I had a whole other post written out for you. It was about sisterhood and belonging. It was at once a lesson learned and a love letter to a friend.

I had it all written out for you and pretty, with pictures and affirmations.

I had it all ready to send and then…I read the news.

All the sudden, it did not seem appropriate that I send out anything into the world other than, well…this…

On any given day, there are so many signs of light, so much evidence of love, so very much to be hopeful about and there is profound tragedy, deep injustice and even hard evidence of hate.

In general I try and stay pretty balanced: giving my attention to both the we’re-all-gonna-be-okay-this-is-our-moment-content and the society-is-horribly-corrupt-and-we-are-all-going-to-suffer-deeply-before-anything-gets-better news.

As I read the news this morning, my heart sank in my chest like an over-saturated sponge.

I wept with my whole body.
And I became livid,
which was my cue to:
sit quiet in prayer.

This is what I heard:

May you stop what you are doing today and sit with this discomfort.

You feel angry?
Sit with it.
You feel heartbroken?
Breathe into it.
You want to escape thinking about it? Move on to the next thing? How about kitten video?
Be careful there. That is the danger of your generation.

Do not let this escape your heart and mind before it does what it’s come here to do.

Remember what Rumi wrote: The wound is the place where the light enters you.  

If we rush the experience, if we read about a horrible tragedy and then quickly Instagram a picture of the Ice cream Sundae we just ate, there is no time to process, to honor, to let the tragedy do what it has been placed here to do.

Do you think that boy was killed so we could all feel very upset for 20 minutes and maybe post something on Facebook and promptly move on?

I hope not. I have to believe that the only possible reason this tragedy has happened and made its way into our awareness is for us to consider that healing is desperately needed here, on the individual level and as a society.

Today I am sitting with these questions:

• How does racism color my worldview?
• Where does it show up in my life?
• How can I heal and come back to the knowing that no lives are more valuable or less valuable than mine and those I love?
• How can I contribute to the healing of the collective wound of racism?
• How can we all stop being so afraid of each other?
• And always, “What would You have me do?
Where would You have me go? 
What would You have me say, and to whom? (via TCM)

So here I am, asking you: how can you learn from the tragedies of your day, our day? And I mean deeply learn. The kind of learning that transforms the way you think and speak and act. The kind of learning which has the potential to transform the world if a large number of us did the work, asked the questions, gave it our precious attention.

Truth: How can you create a sense of belonging for all members of your community?
Dare: Today take one inspired action to do just that.

Alice Walker wrote: The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.

May you look deeply inward,
May you hold your sisters and brothers with love,
May you remember that you are here for a reason,
May you use your one precious voice,
May your courage be always born of your heart.

With love,
C

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