Tag: fear

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don't speak...don't speak!

today

After all of it and last night. “They’re eating dogs!l  🖕

If you are still voting for or are leaning toward the white guy and not the black woman.

I see you.  👀 

I know that there is not a thing I can say that is or will change anyone’s mindedness about anything.  What do I know, I am a nobody.  And I have no illusion or delusions that what I have to say matters at all.  

But what I feel and believe, for me matters to and for people I care about a great deal.  Some I know well, some I know not so well.  Some I don’t know at all, even if they have a public platform that gives them a visibility, reach and frequency that most do not have.

The last few years for me personally have been a challenge.  Painful actually.  Some days it feels like or I still wonder, what’s next.  What will that next shoe have in it?

I work, I think I do, work hard to be fair, kind, decent and do no harm.  I don’t in public forum call people names.  I’ll say this again, if I have please let me know where it is and I will delete and apologize.

This is what I don’t understand.  Hate.  I don’t understand the hate and disparagement of others.  I don’t or can’t comprehend that we have allowed one individual to give us license to point a finger, pass judgment and give no consideration to the impact of our words.  To speak in hateful terms hanging on lies and fabrications. The consequences of those words or our actions will not be gentle.

That we believe one person more than anyone else in the world. More than highly educated scientists.   Highly experience career professionals of 20 and 30 years.  By one person who by all appearances and his story has everything, yet his actions have potential adverse results to some of the most vulnerable living today.  And for what?  None of us have any value to him.  He lacks value of life and liberty.  On his watch, the hate filled and those who fear what is not to be feared will create more chaos, more division of which the consequences will be a surprise to even you.  No one is safe. Your vote for him is not cover, a free pass or any level of protection.

I listen a lot.  I read a lot, yet I know nothing.  Nothing except that my heart is heavy daily because of how we don’t care for each other.  How we discount people because of their station, their economy, the color of their skin, the street they live on.  The state of their mental well-being or lack there of. That part of us hear hate and the other part hear what I can only understand is fear of losing something that truly has no consequences, is not a reality and will be lost by the very person they think is here to save them.  

Vengeance and retribution are not the answer.  Do you not hear that? Thought, empathy and compassion on a global scale across all lines, all countries, all races is how we move forward together in harmony and community.  

Division has no strategy other than destruction.  Division rips at any fabric of community that we ever thought we might have.  

When we don’t consider the equity of others, I believe that only two things can happen.  One, my laws become your laws.  Or two, your laws become my laws.  Obviously, neither of us wants to be in the other’s world.  Neither of these are sustainable and both potentially create an inequality that I don’t want and you don’t want.  We can’t be so far in one direction that half of the country suffers.  

I see nothing wrong with the middle.  Fair and equal throughout and at all levels.  Revenge is not profitable or productive.  

I see you.  Some days more clearly than ever.  Some days frighteningly so.  I believe we have two choices.

One. A rich white guy with bankruptcies, fraud, assault conviction and several felony convictions. Who in my opinion only complains about not getting his way. Is a racist and see’s everyone as beneath him. He buddies up to dictators and whose fear is actually greater than yours will ever be. 

Or.

Two. A middle class Black woman with a law degree, experience as Attorney General, US Senator, US Vice President. Who in my opinion complains about what needs to be fixed or saved for you and me, freedom and democracy.  Who if you read her record, has fought for the people, not herself or the rich.

Nothing has become more clear to me in the last few months than the level of acceptance we have settled into white male mediocre leadership in some of the most consequential positions in the country.  Scared, angry white men who don’t want to share the control, don’t want to acknowledge the diverse world we live in and embrace the brilliance that is in that diversity.  Angry white men, so rooted in their fear that they are ineffective and have no accomplishments to speak of.  Concepts.  False, unfounded accusations.  Vindictive projection, the ultimate deflection to cover up their fears and insecurities.

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don't speak...don't speak!

Fear

I have this thought that fear has taken over our ability to live and love with an open heart.
Fear of losing what we believe rightfully belongs to us. To which I have to ask, what does belong to us? What does belong to you? Belong; the property of. Property. You are not property. I am not property. Your kids are not, your spouse is not, etc. etc. etc. Maybe you belong to a church, a group, a community, but you are still not property.

So is it a fear of losing something that is inherently your own personal beliefs, yours and yours alone? No one can take that away from you, it is yours and yours alone. Celebrate it, but don’t hold it over another.

Here’s the thing. There are probably eight billion people in the world. So imagine how many of those who have beliefs that are not yours or even diametrically opposed to you. This is our world, this is your world. It is not a threat unless you open yourself up to the difference and see it as a threat. Freedom is freedom and to place your belief over another is a shadow over another their freedom. We have a lot of work to do in terms of equality. Lots of work.

If we replaced our fear with understanding, that while we may have a different faith or a different political affiliation, are we taking the time to understand the human and the heart of our neighbor, our co-worker or friend? Are we there to listen to understand and embrace the difference and not as a threat to our own belief?

It started early for me, grade school. When I think about it today, I feel that lump in my throat and it makes me sad. There was a girl in my many of my classes who because of her religion, her Mom came and picked her up for any and all holiday celebrations the rest of us had. Her Mom came picked her up and she left school. While I didn’t see it, I see it now like I had, she and her Mom walking down that long empty hall to leave her class because we needed to celebrate Halloween. Even then I thought, why are we doing something that excludes this person? Why do the rest of us have to be so arrogant that our belief, our celebration is so much more important that we allowed it to exclude her?

Some of you know me. Some of you don’t, really. What both of you have in common is that you do not truly know my heart. We haven’t had the opportunity to have that conversation. You do not know my deepest beliefs. I don’t know yours. You might think you have a hint or an idea because of something I put here. Or I might think I know you because of a post. But neither is knowing the heart.

Some of your shared posts that say, whatever, are generalizations that exclude your friends and neighbors and they have no foundation of truth. And actually are counter to what I think the intention is.

We are humans. We have hopes, dreams and aspirations. We all believe differently, even if we sit next to each other in the pew on Sunday morning. My belief, your belief will never be THE belief of a world full of billions.

How do we come together in harmony? Let go a little of the fear, hold your truth and allow your heart to be open to others and celebrate the beauty of the differences. Our hopes and dreams aren’t that different.

Peace.