“The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.”
~ Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Here I am yesterday, exercising my right to vote.
My mail in ballot never showed up so Jonathan and I drove a couple hours to Napa and were rejected. We then drove to San Francisco and figured out how to make it all work since we were leaving out of town. Sometimes it takes being unreasonable to get it done.
Vote! Be unreasonable!
I am writing you today with encouragement to exercise your right to vote, especially if you are a woman. This isn’t about choosing sides, but rather voting from your heart.
Women were given the right to vote in the United States in 1920, which if you think about it wasn’t very long ago – less than 100 years. I feel it’s important for us to have the experience of voting, no matter if we have lost faith in the system. To just show up and participate in the collective weave of our future.
I am sharing a post from my Artist Facebook Page, which includes my thoughts about being a US citizen at this time in our world. My intention is not to be discouraging. I just want to acknowledge my experience of what is happening. This is my own experience and you have yours. Feel free to share and add your own thoughts. We are indeed, in this together.
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Who are we? Thoughts on being a United States citizen at this time.
We allow our food to be poisoned. We allow our water to be filled with pollution. We pay football stars more than we pay teachers of children. We have forgotten how to respect our elders. We have not apologized to the Native Americans. We take land that is not ours. We do not adequately rehabilitate our soldiers. We do not have equal pay for women.
We allow average citizens to have access to military weapons. We build walls between us and our neighbors. We have a growing animal extinction list. Medicine can cost a hundred times more here than other countries. We won’t go to the doctor when we need to because we are afraid of the costs. We do not learn from our mistakes. Poverty and scarcity are enforced. The rich are getting richer.
We value profit over human progress. We have become desensitized to violence and see it as entertainment. We don’t trust most of our leaders. There are very few women leaders compared to men. Rape culture is perpetuated in most media outlets. It sells. Sex trafficking is on the rise. People believe other people should believe what they believe.
Many of us are outraged and yet so overwhelmed we don’t know where to turn. We have turned on ourselves and have a culture where most of us feel like we don’t matter. Too irrelevant to even take action that matters. Self medicating just to survive is at an all-time high. Our consumption of things we don’t need is another symptom of our lack of awareness. We tend to act like we are the center of the universe.
We are elitist and confuse our posture as somehow ‘American’. Those who are doing the killing are letting us know how sick we have become. Racism of all kinds isn’t just tolerated, it is actually continually promoted and enforced to divide us.
We find ourselves depressed instead of self expressed. We have removed the art from our schools. Not all who are capable of voting even vote. We blame everyone else when bad things happen. Our social media shame comment culture is despicable. Our behaviors are watched and are regurgitated back to us as preferences. The hives are collapsing.
Is the first step in our healing to fully acknowledge where we currently are?
They say become a part of the solution instead of part of the problem. What if WE truly ARE the problem? And what if we can’t move forward until each one of us takes mutual responsibility for our current condition? We point outward.
I feel I am part of the problem and part of the solution.
I am doing what I can do to show up for my part. I know I fall short of what I want to do every day to serve humanity. My heart aches for the world and for this sleeping nation of which I am a part. I don’t feel at home here. But I don’t know where else I would go. What would become despair, turns to a call for action.
We each can empower ourselves by choosing something that is important to our hearts and taking action.
I am not anticipating that you would agree with me. Yet I do hope to spark your own inquiry.
The acknowledgement of realities which you experience ‘as so’ does not mean defeat or descent into shadows. For me not saying what is so, keeps me in a kind of bardo – unable to act clearly. Paradoxically to name this, for me means it is time for greater action and deeper reflection and this soothes my soul. Instead of feeling lost ~ by naming where I am ~ I have found myself on the path.
Further I will not internalize these realities in harm to my own body. I can hold it without holding it so tight I hurt myself. I hope. I try. This is where chosen consciousness comes in. Let’s wake up together! Show us the way.
Yours in hope,
My heart goes out to all beings, especially those impacted most recently by gun violence.
#treeoflife #grievingwithyou
Rachel is weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more Jeremiah 31:15
