let kindness win

There are many viewpoints from which we can see the world, our relationship to it and to one another. There are many masks we wear, many clubs we join, and many beliefs we shoulder throughout our lives. But I have yet to experience one as satisfying, as fulfilling as that of viewing the world thorough the eyes of being human.

We cannot, nor should we, discount or disregard our histories, our cultures or our faiths, but it is crucial that we recognize our humanity first and foremost.

The problems facing us that are provoking fear and distrust are not new. The solutions that have failed us before will fail us again.

There is one solution rarely tried; perhaps it is too simple, perhaps it is too hard. If we could choose to recognize and celebrate our unique and precious humanity and cultivate peace and fulfillment within ourselves, we would welcome a new perspective to the mix.

But there is more. We must also recognize that which robs us of our humanity. It is not our friend and we must have the guts to walk away from these chains that bind us.

Keep to the path that was laid for you before you were born, to the hope that was instilled in and upon you, and to the strength that has never left you.

We are here because of the love of those who have gone before us and the Love of something we may never fully understand but can feel.

We are here today because of what we can leave for those not yet here. Put down the weapons of power and hatred. Pick up the weapons of clarity and fearlessness. It is not as cloudy as you may think. It is not as desperate.

Find the strength in yourself to carry on and find support in those who cherish humanity and the earth.

The tide is turning. Humanity is rising.

Celebrate your part in it.

 

Welcome to Beaver County Pennsylvania and a very particular place dubbed “Little Italy”. Small town Rochester was a true melting pot of nationalities, large and small industry and people who had not yet forgotten village life. It was for the first 18 years of my life, home.

In this place are the stories, the realities, the lessons and the loves of the composite that began “me”. I leave today, as I always do, mixed with pride, misgivings, sadness and hope that this beautiful place will not forego its beauty for the greed of promised jobs, progress, and the illusive American dream that is beginning to leave so many behind.

I grew up across the street from an industrial park and my not so favorite joke is that I should probably glow in the dark for the places we played as children. Forty plus years later much of the polluted land remains unusable. Thirteen miles as the crow flies lies the Shippingport nuclear plant and now near-by a new “cracker plant” will replace a mountain along the river side… Apparently the good folks of the county have forgotten the strip mining, the defunct steel mills and other industries which promised jobs and progress  – only for the immediate moment in time – leaving the people and the land raped generation after generation until yet another form of “progress” came with yet another story line of promised jobs and…

What I know is that the beauty is being lost, the pollution far greater, the division among people more pronounced as the growth of the individual’s wealth and “rights” have replaced the village caring and compassion that I once knew.

Yes, I did not always like it when the old ladies called my mom and told her when I was  being unruly. But there was safety in that knowing and demands for respect of one another.

Having lunch with a old neighborhood pal I was reminded of just how mixed our neighborhood was and how the lines of race were diminished or even non existent in my young life. Mr. William Douglas was not only one of my greatest mentors of kindness and strength, as principal of my school, he was the authority. And he was Black.

Through the years I have seen an increase in the lines of segregation, I have felt the trepidation and uncertainty of people who never shown concerns of “race”. I have watched the village life be destroyed as strangers replaced the old guard and no one took the time to maintain respect and communication with them. I have watched from afar as the world’s increased isolationism has become the new normal and I am here to tell you, we are losing a piece of our humanity with this climb to the top, to be “comfortable”, to protect, not share, our assets, and the need to find a villain to blame for our woes. We are losing community. We have lost the village.

But true to my nature, which was born of this hopeful place, I was thrilled to step into a memorial dedicated to the Tuskegee Airmen while I await
my plane and happy to learn, yet again, of another piece of my history, our history. I will be forever proud of my people, all of my people. I will wish for them a return to simplicity, an honoring of the earth that holds them and most importantly a respect for one another. These were the hopes instilled in me in “Little Italy” and they remain in my heart as cornerstone to the possibility of peace.

Wishing you a village.

She is a real survivor. She left the coop a few years ago and took a posse with her. They took up in the turkey coop, which is now a duck coop, and lived sort of happily until a raccoon got her best friend and her mate. Then I noticed her missing and I was a bit frantic because she had grown on me. Her independent spirit, her zest for life, her being the one to catch the early worm…

So I looked for her, expecting to find remains. Instead I found her perched on top of a round bale of hay in Beauty’s barn. (For those who do not know, Beauty is a neutered mule.) There she was sitting on a pile of eggs.

The raccoons and skunks have been very busy this year and I was leery of leaving her alone outside, but I came to realize that Beauty was protecting her. I would watch him hanging about his barn more often these days and venturing inside which he seldom did unless it was storming. And on more than one early evening I saw him gallop in that direction of the barn, snorting. I wouldn’t mess with Beauty. I doubt anybody would. So I hunched she was going to be OK.

My next awakening to my chicken friend was when I realized that she was sitting and sitting and those eggs were never going to hatch because they were not fertile – her mate had died earlier in the year. So there I was in the sheep barn and I spied three unattended fertile eggs. What were the chances? Would she be able to sit that much longer? I grabbed the eggs and sprinted to her perch. I had a young friend with me and I noted that with a little luck we might still have baby chicks this year. I carefully deposited the fertile eggs beside her.

We left her not certain the eggs would be accepted, but when I went back a bit later I saw that she had pulled them under her, and that now she continued that direct, blank stare of one who is intent on making something miraculous happen.

Days later I wanted to take a peak and I saw her at a distance pecking and strutting as if she were already a mom. I checked the nest for shells or rotting eggs. No shells. This was simply one of those moments when the chicken mom decides it is warm enough, hedges her bets and flees for a moment’s respite, water and hopefully and insect or two. I had just enough time to pull some of the “dead” eggs before she hustled back to her nest. I didn’t want the smell to tip off a predator.

Each night I reminded Beauty to watch over her, needlessly of course, as he was devoted to his new companion. And then one day, it happened. I heard someone yell, “Beauty is an uncle!” And so he was. Only one of the three survived. I suspect the chick was a few days old when we saw him. Most likely bored waiting on the others to hatch, he had enough of the nest and took a dive over the side of the bale. The mother must have been beside herself and as there was no way to escort him back to the nest, she carried on with that the little one.

If you haven’t witnessed it, there is nothing quite like the devotion of a mother hen to her young. Fierce at the slightest provocation and teaching every step of the way…

We have a small shed for them now, while we build a new one on wheels. She is such an adventurer; I think it only fitting…

Summer’s ecstasy and frenetic pace are slowing now. I hope to use the winter to tell the tales that have been spun. Wishing you well. Let kindness win.

I am grateful to live in a place that is full of cultural exchange and allows for creative interplay of concepts and the weaving of dreams. Today as I sheared the sheep I had a conversation with Willie, a visiting friend. He helped me remember a time, decades ago, when I was in the company of one who had dedicated her life to serving in Love. She had come to a few of us in a bit of a quandary, because she realized she was loving some people more than others…after her “confession” of sorts and thinking it through, she came to something like this: “Perhaps in loving you all more, I am stretching my capacity to love and in that way I might have more room to love others.” This was her reconciliation with the discomfort of her limitations.

I applauded then, as I do now, her relentlessness to love.

Another tidbit that arose with Willie and the sheep was remembering my participation in a conference geared to creating teams. One of the main points of consideration was this: No dark thoughts. How refreshing.

I think I will be practicing that one today.

 

For those who dare to feel the depth of sorrow within, I salute you.  For those who cry anguished tears and simultaneously feel the flower of hope blossoming in your breast, I commend you.  For those who reject the inhumanity with angry voices, I recognize you…

It would be oh, so easy to give up. It would be oh, so easy to doubt.

But the gift of Life demands much more from us. The gift of being human is still waiting to be opened. We have seen our riches in each other’s eyes, we have tasted the sweetness of victory in the birth of each child, in the laughter we share and in the joy embedded in our hearts. This is what it means to be human. This is what we need to celebrate in ourselves and in one another.

We cannot afford the luxury of confusion. We cannot afford to fight the battles the way we are expected to fight. It is time to fight differently. It is time for the heart to lead; it is time to win this war with love.

And what if it is simply about tipping the scales in the direction of love, for a change. What if it is about the recognition of one spirit, one people, and one earth?

What if we could take all the hopelessness and turn it into courage, like straw to gold. What if this is the moment that we rise up together, loving, honoring and respecting one another? There is much to heal from and some of us are in such pain that we misuse our power and some are in such pain that we strike back but I am speaking to those who can still love. Let your love be a beacon, let your clarity sing out. Give to one another. Don’t let this moment rob us. We are better than this.

Take time to calm your spirit. Take time to be clear and when you are, bring your goodness to the world. People say we need another Martin, but I know this is the time when we all must stand up and be Martin, be Gandhi, be Mandela. See the light in one another and support it. Find a way everyday. Let us please take back this garden.

We can.

I am beginning to see the importance of at least once each day surpassing what my mind tells me is a limitation. It doesn’t matter how grand or small a scale of action. To let the mind in on the big secret that I am the one who limits myself is a giant step towards freedom.

Here’s hoping you are enjoying.

 

photo compliments of Jannet Chang

Many decades ago someone told me to “touch every inch of this place with love.” I took it as a challenge and proceeded. This notion that we have the capacity for and ability to direct love is still one of the single most instructive and valid tips ever given to me.

And it is so simple.

There is so much to rally against. Social injustice, governmental collapse, scarcity of clean food and water…it is quite easy to forget the single most power each of us carries. Love.

I still believe this world could change in a heartbeat and all the dreams we dream could come true. I think it is up to each of us. Let Love find you. Touch everything with love.