Dear Human Beings,
Please hear me. I don't hate any of our leaders. Although I believe one or some of them is/are categorically mentally ill. I don't say that with venom, sarcasm, or laughter behind it. I say it with concerned compassion, and experience working with mental illness. Are we so spiritually sick that we cannot recognize mental illness?
What concerns me the most is that in all of the circus that is politics and humanity, moral conscience is being supplanted by 'teams' and 'competition' and 'opposing sides' and 'othering'... Which employs emotion and demonstrates a lack of critical thinking.
I am not in competition with you, human being who may have had a different experience in life. I am in an ALSO and BECAUSE OF relationship with you. I can be AND ALSO you can be. There is no shortage of love and compassion and space for our realities... We don't need our socially constructed DIVISIONS or SIDES.
Come on. We have imaginations and faith and conscience. We're capable of better than we are presently doing. We value life, don't we? LIFE is not a color of skin or a gender or a religion or a political party. LIFE IS. Each of us ARE. I AM.
Stewardship over ownership.
There is one side. Love. Love nurtures Life. Never mind the "team" colors or the mascots or the "aisle(s)" that divides us.
Regardless of our opinions about options in November... Regardless of our judgment of "others"... Every "other" is somebody's child. Think of "others" as your own and act from there...
PLEASE, can we all reflect before we act? Are we acting/voting with a heart of love that can help heal ourselves, our families, communities, relationships? Our planet? In the very least are we voting to put an end to the destruction of these things?
Or are we voting for our self-interest and a sense of "We got spirit, yes we do! We got spirit, how about you!?". That cheer was a lot of fun to do at high school basketball games when the other team was "losing".
Life is not a high school basketball game. Our actions have consequences. Mental illness is real and should not be gas-lit, rather it ought to be handled by professionals with compassion. Anger, arrogance, apathy, and hatred are seeds of destruction.
Gratitude, patience, and compassion are the stuff of Love and (re)-construction.
Of (holy) Spirit.
Please make time to get silent. Please reflect. Pray.
LISTEN.
Be courageous.
Beliefs and Faith can be private.
We needn't be on a team with them.
Follow the dictates of your own conscience.
BUT GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR CONSCIENCE.
Ask for wisdom. We are responsible, my village. We can do this hard thing. With love, Jen