Dignity – Page 2 – let kindness win

As luck would have it, our well went out this week. Not a good thing anytime. This was a particularly bad time. We called a reliable friend who recommended a reliable friend. The recommended reliable friend came and not only set the well right, he explained that the well had been dug too deep. We had paid for that “too deep” nearly ten years ago. And of course, there is no warranty on a well from those who put it in.

This gentle man explained a lot of things about the water table, the well, the pump, and the electricity. He was happy to do it. I was happy to learn. He shared valuable information that will help direct our course here. When we parted, we parted as friends and the appreciation for one another was genuine.

It is getting clear to me that there are two types of people on the earth right now.

There are human beings who have dignity and respect for other human beings. And there are others who are not fully human. Not a judgment, just an observation. And that’s why we are in the pickle we are in. Another observation. The government of Israel is starving Palestinians.

It’s now a full blown, openly discussed genocide.

There are two types of people: human beings who care and are trying to help and the others who are not fully human. Right now, non-humans are winning.

We’ve handed the reins to the not fully human. And unless and until we take back those reins, we’re in for quite a ride.

For those who believe we are here to suffer, please rethink this. And if you choose suffering, perhaps you could leave the rest of us to the peace we know is possible.

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Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha has won the Pulitzer Prize. “I can’t celebrate while Gaza is starving.”

You can listen to my conversation with Mosab Abu Toha on Changing the Narrative.

You are not rudderless. You have the capacity to determine the course of your life. You may not be able to influence circumstances that occur, but you can choose how you will respond to them.

In this moment, we can do well to be touched again “by the better angels of our nature”, as Lincoln once penned.* The order of the day is to resist the cruel and power wielding nature of man and return again to our capacity to be human. We’ve witnessed the upsurge of violence and hatred, but we have yet to extol and promote the power of benevolence and goodwill.

We have succumbed, by default and by choice, to the most egregious calamities both to the earth and to one another. We have, by default or by choice, handed our power to the ignorant and the arrogant and we will now collectively suffer the consequences of our inaction.

And what would it look like to return again to our humanity? Foremost, it would mean that a majority of us would reclaim our rudders, or better to say our moral compass. It would mean we would take time to discover in silence and in the reckoning of our own being, what is most important to us.

What we may find are common threads that run throughout humanity – our desire to live in peace, to respect and be respected, and to know the capacity of the earth to care for us and to feed us. Certainly, we would understand and cultivate dignity.

There is no dignity in being rudderless. There is no dignity in allowing suffering. There is no dignity in following inhumanity to its end. Your moral compass knows this. Take it out, dust it off and let’s begin again.

*From Lincoln’s inaugural address, “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

Presidential Actions after 1 week in office. – Many are being contested in courts and some have already been rescinded due to public outcry. Refuse to be victims.

Let’s Celebrate! Diversity Equity and Inclusion