A Call To Disarm

When people are scared, angry and confused... when their nervous systems have been on overload, perhaps since childhood... throw in a global pandemic, racial equality tidal wave, political election of a lifetime... job loss, loss of income, potential or actual loss of home, drowning in debt, illness, death of a family member, death, death, death all over the world and ‘you’re next’... Goddess knows what else...

And then, ‘pop’... they lose their shit. Do something ‘reprehensible’, ‘stupid’, ‘selfish’. Seen the videos? Seen the memes? Many more to come.

Have you never had that happen? Le ‘Pop’? I have. An embarrassing tirade at the grocery store long ago comes to mind, when a gentleman got condemingly upset with me for not seeing him as I was backing out of my parking space. What I needed most was not to be shamed and humiliated for human error and then, for my subsequent loss of composure in a moment of understandable-if-examined madness... following said gentleman into and throughout the store...doing-unto-him-what-he-had-done-unto-me... on and on the chain-of-pain goes...

What I needed, what he needed, was tenderness, and space for the vulnerability that was surely within both of us, underneath all the reactivity. I had no idea what was going on for him any more than he knew what was going on for me. No attempt made. Tragic.

Therein lies the potential for r(E)volution. Every breath. Every moment. Every day...

Compassion. Mercy. Forgiveness. Empathy. Grace. Holding. Helping. Healing.

Beware:
We’re in trouble if, as we dismantle the police, we let policing each other become the norm... if we don’t heartily look to see who is behind that mask, or beyond why they are not wearing one... if we fall asleep at the wheel of endeavoring to discover what’s really going on... in all the canceling, might we be lobotomizing our ability to Respond to complex and complicated situations with discernment, nuance and the Creativity absolutely needed to get ourselves out of the jams we find ourselves in... if we let anger, judgment and hostility get the better of us... be the boss of us... adding fuel to inferno... if we let the latest news story make enemies of us...

Unless we’ve walked in another’s shoes, we’d best be care-full. Take a moment. Wonder. Smile. Wave. Count to ten. Ask, with genuine concern, “You doin’ ok?”, “Anything I can do to support you?”. Even ask self, hell, “How am I doing?!?” and prescribe accordingly...

Breathe. Breathe again. Before opening mouth. Flapping gums, waving fingers. Before righteously hitting that ‘post’ button.

What will be my contribution, then?

Stay awake. Regulate. Regulate. Regulate. Calm. Calm. Calm. Be the Balm, Balm, Balm... not, a detonated bomb. If that’s too much, silence... contemplation... will suffice.

There’s no going back. Only forward. We Choose. We Create. May we do so with our Ultimate Aim in Heart, Soul and Clear Mind.

Thriving, Pulsing, Honorable, Dignified Unity...

Oh, and... Joy. Remember Joy? Yeah.

Bless Us ALL...

EveryOne.

With you. For you.

~B