Spring up!

At times like this, it's hard to know what to say.  Justice and emotional health are two of the most important issues in my life.  Here and now, they are colliding.  The seemingly obvious answer to me is to sit back, breathe, and wait to see how our leaders respond. But, boy oh boy, does that seem pointless, or what?  Are the same members of Congress who've done nothing for all of these years going to all of a sudden do something real for justice?  It doesn't seem likely.  Are individual police officers or departments going to collectively rise up and put a stop to this?  That sounds absurd to me.  President Obama has spoken over and over again against gun violence, but nothing concrete changes.

So to say, in this moment, that we need to take care of our emotions and wait, seems inadequate at best and treachery at worst.  

Then what?

Thich Nhat Hanh has spoken in the past about the futility of the anti-war movements.  He said that until they can write a love letter to their Congressional representative, their actions will prove fruitless.  What he was saying was that rallies and marches and yelling and all that don't really accomplish anything, because they don't inspire the people in charge to take action.  We have to be able to connect to the people who have the ability to do something.  By connecting, real change becomes possible.  I think this is a similar situation.  No amount of talk about the problem will change what is happening.  As a society, all of us, not just black and white, have to choose to live together, without fear. And doing that requires connection.  

So take your responsibility.  Find a way to connect to someone who is different than you. Talk, smile, help, give, hug, love, or just look deeply in the eyes of someone.  And do it knowing that you are changing this broken culture of ours, one small action at a time.

"If there's a world here in a hundred years, it's going to be saved by tens of millions of little things.  The powers-that-be can break up any big thing they want.  They can corrupt it or co-opt it from the inside, or they can attack it from the outside.  But what are they going to do about ten million little things? They break up two of them, and three more like them spring up!"  -Pete Seeger

Update:  This is the opposite of what I'm saying.  Forgive me if this feels harsh to you: she is the enemy.