Racial Inequality; how can I help?
“Fear does not stop death, it stops life.
And worrying does not take away tomorrow’s troubles. It takes away today’s peace.”
Someone sent this to me…it hit me , it hit me hard, so I knew it was exactly what I needed to hear. I love how life does that.
The worry and sadness over what happened to George Floyd felt overwhelming. At first I went numb, ignoring and detaching, I did nothing. It hurt to much to feel.
Then I kept my feelings at a safe distance, busying myself. Moments of feeling and moments of pushing feelings away. Slowly anger came creeping in, as well as disbelief. It took me a while to realize I was grieving.
If I’m feeling off, my word for that feeling is funky. That “funky” feeling came from a belief that I was helpless in the current state of affairs. What can I really do to stop the violence and hatred that blacks in this county face every minute of every day?
So I sat, and I sat and I sat and I sat….and finally a teeny tiny bit of clarity came. Maybe if I just simply allow; allow myself to be real and confused, open instead of constricted; start a conversation. Maybe just maybe I can open the door just a crack for others to feel and do the same. So I did, and we felt, and I cried and I think others cried too. We stayed awake to the feelings, not ignoring or detaching, and in those conscious moments healing started to happen, energy started to move and change began to happen.
Our dharma in this life may not be one of an activist, but that does not mean that we cannot make a difference. Prayer, meditation, tolerance, kindness, gaining a deeper understanding, all matter. Imagine the power if all of us just took one step, if we each decided that yes we can make a difference.
As always there is a choice how to live. However, to have choice we have to be conscious, and that conscious choice is what starts the process of change.
” I honor the place in you that is of love, light, peace and truth. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, together we are one.
May we never forget.
