Uplift

To piggyback on yesterday's post, I want to talk about what would happen if "majority" communities took some responsibility for their own health and happiness.  

Because of heavy race and class segregation in the United States, we have communities of poor, disadvantaged people living next to communities of affluent people all over the country.  What would happen if, instead of affluent people complaining about the problems that poor people experience and how it affects them (the rich), what if they did something about it?  What if a rich community had a community wide meeting and said, "we want to work together with our neighbor community that is struggling.  So what we want everyone to do is, we want you all to go to that community and get to know people.  Go into businesses, schools, places of worship, even stop on the street and introduce yourself. Make it clear to them that we care about who they are and what they're up against.  Heck! Spend some money while you're there.  Every little bit helps."  With sustained effort, these two communities would be changed dramatically for ever.

We all know what would really happen though, don't we?  Eventually, something negative would happen to a rich person and the whole experiment would end.  Why?  Why wouldn't the affluent know going in to the experience that sometimes rough stuff happens in poor communities and that's just part of what has to be dealt with to lift the community up? They would know it, but they'd ignore it because they're afraid and they don't know how to deal with the fear.  

Living courageously is the responsibility of every human being.  And that's where this whole scenario comes back to emotions.  Our real problem is that our lives are filled with fear and we respond by avoiding those fearful situations or repressing the fear they cause.  But we don't respond by resolving the fear.  If we resolved the fear, situations like this would be nothing to us.  

So, if you really care about what's going on in the world, start figuring out how to sit with your emotions and not run away.  If you can accept your emotions, you'll go a long way toward mastering them, and in so doing, helping the world as well.

Peace in oneself, peace in the world.