I love my country, and the premises upon which it was founded. I love the idea that we are each, at least in theory, free to believe what we believe and speak that belief aloud, without fear of reprisal. I love that we can vote on what we would like to see happen, and that, somehow, our vote DOES matter, even when we are in the minority.
And I wonder how that potential has devolved into a place where US vs THEM is more important than e pluribus unum - Where fear has displaced hope as our guiding star – Where money is a greater measure of a man than character. I don’t like this world that is shaping up around me, and I am saddened that so many people, including some family members and former dear friends, find war preferable to diplomacy, and their right to bear arms more critical than the right of a parent to have their child come home alive.
How did we get here? What role did I play in shaping this place we are now? I have heard the dear Parker Palmer speak of the “Tragic Gap” – the space between how things are and how we know they are possible to be. If it is my experience, I played a role in creating it, and I search my soul to find the anger and vitriol that are being spewed around me.
Where is our common ground? We are all people, living on one planet, joining in one family – whether we want to be or not. We are on a ball of molten rock hurtling through space with no way off, and I am so tired of the divisiveness.
I always talk about finding solutions. Focusing on what is possible. Affirming “there has to be a way” over and over. It is said “the answer to the prayer is in the pray-er” so I look to myself for a way to end the divisiveness and frustration in my own heart.
We are so much better than how we are behaving. A dear friend’s beautiful husband has passed, and her life is broken open, and all this petty bickering pales in comparison to her journey. Can we stop? Just hold a cease-fire on name calling and snarky comments and see our own humanity?
That’s all I have. Wish there was more… but it is what I have in me to share now. I am struck by how the words of a 50 year old song are so relevant... "What's That Sound" by Buffalo Springfield.