let kindness win

Today is Thanksgiving. Hard to argue about a holiday geared towards gratitude. The month of November, has been decreed “Native American Month”. I am not a hallmark person. I prefer celebrating every day, month and year with: “I am alive. Thank you.”

But living in our culture and being inundated by White House turkey pardoning, pumpkin pie and the ridiculous story about Pilgrims and Indians, one is inclined to ask, “Is this what gratitude looks like?”

I have learned that some texts are teaching children that Native Americans gave their land to the new settlers, you know, as an act of kindness. Now that may be a comforting thought, but not even close to the truth as we are still breaking treaties and stealing resources from First Nations People.

What harm is there in telling the truth this Thanksgiving day? We are here due to the willingness of our ancestors to conquer other human beings; that settlers perpetrated on human beings the same barbarous acts that had been perpetrated upon them; and that we are still caught in the cycle of victim, oppressor, and savior.

Perhaps our prayers might actually be to find a way out of the violence and the dehumanizing culture that we find ourselves immersed in.

I really enjoyed the advice given by Mary Annette Pember in “Yes” magazine’s article, “This November, “Try Something New: Decolonize Your Mind”

Quoting her here: “Ojibwe know and value the power of visiting. Unencumbered by agenda points and outcomes, we trust that through prayer and community we can determine how to honor and care for the environment, each other, and ourselves. So during the month of the Freezing Over Moon, why not spend time visiting with others especially those whose ethnicity and social class differs from your own? Eat, drink coffee, let silence fall, and wait to find out what needs to be done. At first, it might be just about being human together; decolonization needs these roots to begin.”

How lovely to have the opportunity to begin again.

May gratitude hold us and may we, as one people, find our humanity again.

 

Enjoy the day and take some time to understand the relationship the U.S. has with Native people.

The photo is from 2017 Thanksgiving, and this is from 2016:

A New Tradition Emerges
I feel blest to be invited to Thanksgiving dinner hosted by the Standing Rock Sioux (with all others here at Oceti Sakowin Camp) . I never use the words “blest or blessed”, but in my heart it applies for this moment in time. We cannot undo the atrocities of the past, but we can allow for reconciliation and peace and we can cut a path for those atrocities to end.
We can all take a moment as we bow our heads over the food we will share with family and friends and ask for forgiveness for our silence. We can ask to be pardoned for our unwillingness to embody the values of our faiths – whatever they may be. We can acknowledge that we have ignored injustices and have allowed fear to take hold in our hearts. We can hold space for conversations that allow the truth to be told. We can be silent and listen as we learn how those who came from Europe transgressed and attempted – and in far too many cases were successful – genocide. We can begin to tell the truth on this and all of the racism that has damaged all of us in our country’s history.
We can call forth the strength to demand that our government and the media end the silence and the lies being told about everything that is related to DAPL. We can honor the valiant human beings – of every nation – who are standing with Standing Rock. And we can add our voices of prayer to theirs.
For those who do not pray, please hold the possibility of peace in your heart.
It is our collective doubt that allows ignorance to prevail. It will be our unified cries for peace that will break the strangle hold of fear that binds us.
On this auspicious holiday, at this auspicious time, let peace prevail.
Your voice is needed – internally spoken or out loud.
Please find your strength to show up.
Use this holiday in the spirit of all it can be. Best wishes to all.

 

“Thanksgiving” aired today, 11/ 23/ 17 on WDRT’s “Consider This” at 5:28 pm CST

I was fortunate to attend an evening of youth activism. Members of the Kickapoo Guatemala Accompaniment Project welcomed youth activist Alex Escobar Prado to speak. Alex represents youth in Guatemala in association with NISGUA,  who are nonviolently educating and resisting the ongoing extraction of resources from their lands.

In straightforward and humble strength, Alex told us the stories of his community. He shared with us the importance of youth taking action to ensure a future of clean water, good air, and healthy, productive lands. He emphasized the importance of honoring the martyrs who have been killed, protecting their communities’ right to self-governance, and their homelands from profiteering and resource extraction.

He spoke softly but passionately about the need for peaceful and nonviolent approaches towards change. And told of the assassination of his 16 year-old activist colleague, Topacio Reynoso, holding her in the highest regard.

He spoke to us as a human being. He spoke to us in hopes that we could awaken to the urgency of now. He spoke to us with wisdom born of deep reflection and of commitment to life and land.

He told us with great confidence that he knew there are people the world over supporting their efforts. And as I thanked him after he spoke I assured him that he was heard.

I will never forget his sincerity or his sense of purpose. He is grounded in a history and culture of human beings resiliently refusing globalized development and extreme extraction. He represents the tide that is turning. Where people and land are more important than profit. Yes, Alex, people are waking up to the fact that we must respect one another’s right to live without corruption of land and water and without fear of militarized police.

Perhaps it is time more of us awaken to this transformation. To recognize the harm caused by our insistence on using fossil fuel energy and other resources. To stand in solidarity with people around the world who are saying, “Enough.” To take one more step towards this end. It is worth it.

You can listen to Alex on his tour of the US

 

You can also follow NISGUA on Facebook.

This blog aired on “Consider This”, Nov 9, on WDRT 91.9 FM community Radio

Perhaps one of the biggest traps for humankind is the desire to be led. I have been fortunate through the years to meet people who insist on directing me back to myself, to my own strengths, to my own wisdom. I have been blessed with a keen desire to be free and a passion for peace. More importantly, I hold the conviction that we all share these blessings and the need to have them awakened in us.

Perhaps the greatest gift we give one another is to simply say, “You do it.” Not, “This is how to do it.” When someone can weave you into an understanding of what is possible, in spite of the reality of what has been and then can turn you lose unto yourself to make it right…that is a person to know.

LaDonna Redmond wove her story and her clarity today at the conference for Women Food and Ag Network and I had the good fortune to be there.

Upending the myths concerning “food deserts”, LaDonna boldly asserted there is no food justice system in America and then enlisted everyone to envision and create a fair and just system to be shared by all.

She had me when she pointed out that ending the colonial narrative would be liberating for all of us. And I cheered quietly when she called out the privilege in the current food trends. But what touched me most was to see her love and conviction cut through the ignorance that has blinded us throughout our history.

There is always something one can do to make things better, to make things right. That no one should be hungry, I have always known. That the earth is capable of feeding all of us, I have never doubted. To admit that the inability to ensure good food, clean water for everyone is due to the ignorance and injustice that we have allowed is a great place to begin. To envision the possibility of something new and then to be able to take the bold steps to change course is the remedy.

We all need to be reminded of who we are and what is possible. And we all need to be reminded that it is up to each one of us to make the changes we can in our lives and in the lives of those around. Thank you LaDonna for the reminder.

Know where your food comes from. Know how it gets to your table. Know the hands it passes through and the way the human beings (and all life) are treated who are providing life sustenance for you.

Know and be ready to change when you see the injustice. Don’t close your eyes. Act. Do what is right. Now. Because we can.

LaDonna Saunders-Redmond’s book, “I Don’t Live In a Food Desert and Neither Do You” will be out spring, 2018.

For more visit her website: LaDonna Redmond

 

 

There is a resurgence of civil disobedience in this country. And it is not just the young and the “quote un quote” fringe standing in defiance of the ongoing assault of land, water and air that has become the norm. Extreme extraction of gas, oil, and sand for profit is waking people to the reality that there is little left them to do but to resist. Communities are uniting, with people of all religious, and economic strata coming together to find creative nonviolent ways to stop the violation of their homelands.

One action most recently in the news was the arrest of 23 people in a cornfield near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. More than 100 people gathered early morning October 16^th. The property is owned by a group of Catholic nuns who are suing to block the pipeline, citing religious freedom. Earlier this year the community erected a chapel on the land and hold regular religious services there as a form of nonviolent and peaceful resistance.

Mark Clatterbuck a member of the group, We are Lancaster said, “‘the way the system is set up, there is not a way to legally protect our communities and our water and our land from a project like this. And so it comes to civil disobedience where the community says, “We are not going to let this happen anymore.”‘

And so it appears our newest way to create community is to unite in peaceful ways to stop the corruption of our homeland. We are learning from one another. It is common to see the people who were at Standing Rock, Mississippi Stand, Flint and other resistance communities supporting one another on social media or by physically showing up.

Having traveled to the area known as Lancaster Stand to witness the nearly 4-year effort of these people preparing for nonviolent resistance, I can tell you they are steadfast and resilient. The first court cases of the 23 arrested will be coming up Oct 31, 2017. The police and now the courts have become the playing fields for this unfolding of human beings protecting the lands they love.

 

update in photos: Stand with the Sisters

Civil Disobedience – the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest.

This piece aired on WDRT’s Consider This, October 26, 2017

The world as we know it is changing. No longer is the dream of having “the” American home being attained, or even chosen, by many of us.

Individuals, couples and families are taking to the road to escape crippling costs of mortgages and loss of jobs, in the very real need to down size in order to survive. You may not see it, but there are nomads among us. They are people, who refuse to be called homeless, and instead see themselves as making practical decisions to live in practical ways. Some sleep in Wal-Mart parking lots. Some couch surf or hop air B&B’s to avoid high rents or the confines of ownership. And they take vans, RVs or whatever road worthy vehicle will carry their possessions.

They travel cross-country to work seasonal jobs on farms, act as custodians for parks, or are hired as temps by corporate giants such as Amazon. Some have chosen the ancient traditional lifestyle of foraging.

There are books and websites dedicated to this culture, helping people to “make a way out of no way”*. They are offering choice in seemingly choice less circumstance. And the people who are choosing this nomadic lifestyle are as diverse and individual as you might expect.

I find comfort in that.

I can see the appeal to living in this broader, communal way.

Not homeless, but nomadic by choice.

What if this turn towards nomadic life is simply a new way to recon with a dying economic system that continues to burden the majority of people and the earth? What if we could move on from here, and learn to share our homes and resources, farms and lands, with one another? What if we are, in fact, beginning to return The Commons?

Perhaps, this is what is happening. And we are all just finding our way to “keep on keeping on”… humans, are good at that, aren’t we?

 

This aired on WDRT’s Consider This Oct. 19, 2017

I attended a conference on peace recently and there were some remarkable concepts given that I would like to share with you. It was not a session to garner answers to the world’s problems; rather it was a prompt for individuals to pursue peace within. This understanding of the pursuit of inner peace is as ancient as our common histories and as profound today as it has always been: There can be no peace in the world until human beings discover the peace we all inherently share.

And before dismissing this as pie in the sky, let us acknowledge that every venture of human kind has begun with a dream followed by an effort. So what kind of effort can be made by each of us in our pursuit of peace, both in ourselves and in the world?

Here is a takeaway from the conference that I have found most helpful in my own pursuit of peace, and one that I am sure you will agree would help bring peace to the world. It comes from the Sanskrit epic of ancient India, the Mahabarahtam, which tells the story of a war.

Time does not allow me to give the full telling, but here is the gist. A princess learns that she can prevent war if in her life she can do three things: Do not offend, do not become offended, and if you become offended, do not seek revenge. Suffice it to say, she sought revenge and the war ensued killing countless people on both sides.

Do not offend, do not become offended, and if offended do not seek revenge. Not a bad way to live, difficult perhaps, but we get good at what we practice. We have tried external solutions to bring peace – perhaps it is time we try the internal route. Put peace first, not last on your to-do list.

 

This piece aired on Thursday, Oct 12. You can hear more “Consider This” every Thursday at 5:28 pm CST on WDRT 91.9 FM.

For more on the pursuit of peace visit Timeless Today.

Photo compliments of PEXELS

 

I grew up in small town USA, where everyone showed up for the football games and rivalries with near-by towns ran deep. Loyalty was encouraged. Walking lockstep with the footsteps of your fathers and grandfathers was expected and anyone willing to step outside of that boundary was to one degree or another shunned. For sure they were not “cool”.

For many, high school gives way to college and allegiance remains a cherished ally. Fraternities and sororities make people prove their loyalty often in disrespectful and costly ways. And as one progresses through life and continues to choose allegiance as a way of life, the games of “us and them” continue, in politics, professional sports, work, faith and even in our families.

We have evolved into a nation of division based on our loyalties. Forget “One nation under God”. God has no say in this anymore. We have chucked our humanity for our allegiance to what we deem as “right”. We have forsaken ideals of decency and dignity for allegiances that now own us.

And apparently it has come as a serious blow to many when the cherished allegiances to football and to the flag are challenged by dissent. And I cannot help but wonder if our loyalties have now become excuses to forget our humanity. When taking a knee to the National Anthem can arouse more angst than the loss of Black, Brown and indigenous lives and the systemic oppression of poor people and the earth – we must ask ourselves if we have gone off course.

It is apparent to me that unless and until we place humanity, in its entirety, first, all else will not bear the fruit for which we hope, causing more harm than good.

Choose the allegiance that will encompass all and provide the best for all. Give loyalty where it is due. Be human first.

 

This piece aired on “Consider This”. WDRT FM. You can listen in to “Consider This” on Thursdays at 5:28pm CST

Photo provided by Pexels

So as we gather ourselves up to face another day, we turn to the pundits to explain away the motives of a “good man” that allowed him to massacre people like picking fish in a barrel.

Let me save you some time. He was sick. He carried a disease, which has now in one way or another infected all of us. I call it dominant white mind and you do not have to have white skin to be infected.

It is a disease born of not knowing who you are. It is a perversion, a symptom of not recognizing the connectedness of all living things. Can it be healed? Absolutely. What is required for this healing? A keen desire to be alive and the humility to recognize the need are the first steps.

How can we recognize white mind syndrome? The syndrome begins by walking lock step with a society that ignores violence and promotes and even champions the perpetrators. It is a society that is blatantly racist as seen in prison statistics, educational statistics, availability of good food and clean water to people in need. It is a society that condones or turns a blind eye to the beating, raping and killing of women, the enslavement of children for sex, the trafficking of humans for menial labor, the destruction of the earth for profit, and then cries foul when these abnormalities are declared for what they are: perversions.

It is a society that revels in “us and them”. We cannot seem to step over this great divide even as it now appears we are annihilating one another. It is a society so hell bent on being angry, we have lost sight of what we are angry about…and I would assert to you we are angry because we – in our highest and truest nature – are compromised. We have forgotten who we are.

Explanations and excuses abound to cover up our inadequacies. Seldom will we allow the voice of reason to dominate. Seldom will we allow the voice of love or peace to prevail. In a few short years we have nearly destroyed countries in the Mid-East and now we are working on Africa; we have remembered the children of Sandy Hook by allowing more high powered guns to be sold; we have shot at peaceful citizens with rubber bullets, water cannons and infiltrated their efforts with paid mercenaries at Standing Rock; and we acquit police who are killing our people of color in shockingly inhuman ways. And our response has been, “Another beer please”, or whatever gets you through the night.

So while you eagerly await the girl friend’s input, the psychologist’s declaration, the clergy’s prayers and hold your breath knowing there might be another ticking time bomb just around your corner – let me remind you that this IS reversible. Stop making excuses. Stop the white fragility – and again I will tell you it is not only contained in white skin – it is a disease of the soul that has permitted ignorance to reign, and it has been reigning decades, no centuries, and it is time for its reign to end.

Stand up. Discover your humanity in its totality. Peace is waiting for you where it has always been. We are creating “good men” who are hiding their sickness from us because they can blend in to an already disgustingly sick culture. They can hide their sickness because we are all too afraid to call out the truth: we are all culpable. We pull the trigger every time we judge, every time we turn our backs to injustice, every time we make an excuse for our insistence on wallowing in our lowest – not our highest – nature. We can change this. We can. Each one of us can. It takes a bit of honesty. It takes a bit of courage. It takes a bit of clarity. And it takes a whole lot of love. There is no short cut, no law, no punishment, no forgiveness that will end the suffering we have allowed. We must heal. We must grapple with who we are, the Good and the Bad, and we must leave room for the reality that we are both and we are neither. For ourselves and for those who will come after, we can do this.

Hurricane Harvey bore down on the Gulf Region. The city of Houston and surrounding areas received over 50 inches of rainfall and the slow moving storm continued for days, slamming Louisiana and other costal areas.

It has been twelve years since Hurricane Katrina took 1800 lives and sent shock waves through the nation as we witnessed a government unable to cope or care for its people. Ironically, it was the city of Houston that opened its doors to evacuees of New Orleans and now is bearing the brunt of an even more severe and deadly storm.

So what have we learned? There is an acknowledgement that the city planners ignored nature and developed over wetlands. This is proving to be a critical error as the floodwaters rise. Then of course there is the elephant in the room as we talk about Harvey as a 500-year flood. And here in the Driftless we know about 100 and 500 -year floods and how frequently they now occur.

But what are we really learning? As I follow social media, I am touched by groups of volunteers from cities near-by the affected areas and states far away, coming with boats, supplies and hearts determined to help their fellow human beings. They understand the importance of sharing, helping and community. People are opening their homes for those who will be left homeless. Many took high risks to save another.

What we are learning, if we have the eyes to see, is priceless. We are learning the power of the human spirit. There is a game afoot and it is called kindness. And through the death and destruction of this horrific storm we are being given a chance to hold onto that, which is truly dear: We can love and help one another.

No, it will not bring back the dead, nor will it erase the hardships that many will face. But our actions and our caring will strengthen our love of life and our dignity, and that, my friends, is worth it.

Fast forward to present and Austin to Houston  – Harvey Relief efforts are still going strong. Help when ever you can however you can. Gain strength from the conviction and love of these people. 

This aired on “Consider This” in the midst of Harvey’s hit. One way we can help is to spread the good news on what we can all do to make this world a better place…thanks for reading and sharing.

There is a story I’ve heard about heaven and hell. Both have an incredible banquet set with people seated on either side of the table, but their arms cannot bend and they cannot feed themselves. So what is the difference between heaven and hell? In heaven, they reach across the table and feed one another.

As of this recording, it has been over one week since Hurricane Maria pummeled the islands and toppled Puerto Rico. It has been clear from the onset that Puerto Rico was severely hit jeopardizing water, food, health supplies, power, gasoline and living conditions for the vast majority of the 3.5 million people living there.

With all the United States military might, ships at sea, and availability of able-bodied help, one would assume this to be a no brainer. But unfortunately, red tape, bureaucracy, and a hint from the White House that Puerto Rico owes Wall Street have all served to slow down life-serving assistance to those in critical need.

Juxtapose this scenario of failed help to the armies of volunteers in the Houston and Florida areas hit by hurricane and floods just weeks prior. There are numerous fledgling bands of people coming together to step in where government has stepped down. Giving time, money and supplies human beings are showing how it can be done. They are feeding one another.

I know many of the people who are volunteering and making a difference in these places. Some of them served with me at the stand at Standing Rock. We no longer have the luxury of waiting on Uncle Sam to do what is right, perhaps we never did.

It is time for humanity to rise to what is possible, not what has been delayed. We have a choice to make; we can live in heaven or in hell. I am choosing heaven and betting more of us will.

My friend Terrence Daniels is working to bring solar power to Puerto Rico. Please help if you can.

This piece aired 9/28/17 on WDRT Driftless Community Radio on “Consider This” my spoken blog. Listen in every Thursday at 5:28 pm CST.