This picture was taken three years ago from an upstairs hallway of a farmhouse in Virginia. The workshop setting was chock-full of quiet sunrises and sunsets, homecooked food, and attendees who were open to learning more about themselves and about one another.
And while it is important to realize there are still quiet sunrises and sunsets and people willing to learn more about one another, pain is raging across our cities, our nation and our globe. We are being called up. We are being called upon. We are being invited to see clearly the result of oppression of a race. A knee on the neck of a black son who cried out for his mother minutes before he died sickens me.
A cry for his mother. A cry for the feminine. A cry for what the feminine represents. If our nation does not take huge action to live differently, to see clearly through the frosty panes of our prejudices, our fears, our way of putting our cultural knees on the necks of blacks (and women and immigrants and poor whites and gays and anyone who seems to go against whatever the cultural "norm" is), our nation will do down. Period.
Our priorities and values need sanitized. Change will happen only if we open our eyes and unseal our hearts. Our children don't need more stuff. They need adults in their lives who live whole heartedly without focusing their esteem on external validation and on the accumulation of STUFF. They need to see the adults in the world accepting those who look and live differently. They need to witness adults in their families and in their (our) governments agree to disagree without put-downs or using verbal knees-to-the-necks.
The changes needed will not come from the top down. The changes of heart and mind will come from the down up. We the people, all races, all types and kinds of humans, need to decide what we will do to bring about the shift needed.
I don't demonstrate but I do write letters. In no way do I agree with the current administration. I don't scream but I do pay close attention to the words of others and I vote accordingly. Some days I pray incessantly. Other days I just stick to my routine of quiet yoga, meditation/prayer. Then I read. Work in my art journal. Work in my flower garden. Write a letter. Do FaceTime with my giggly and wise 6 year-old granddaughter. Chat with my spouse. Take a walk. Make dinner. Most days I find purpose and meaning. On the days that purpose seems lacking, I know deep down that I will find it again the next day.
Most of humanity is good. I didn't say most whites or most blacks or most immigrants or most men or most women. I said most of humanity. To see change, to bring about ways to live and love differently is a task for each and every one of us. Find your way. Please.
Virtual hugs for all.
Candace