What’s next? Vulnerability.
A moment of silence for all people, all positions.
A moment of silence for hope of unity and for peace.
My heart, my gut and my mind swirls, and I’m sure yours does too. It has been swirling for weeks. However the election turned out today, we are faced with a strong public ripple that we are deeply divided.
Since it is now Donald Trump who is elected as the president of the United States, I feel that saying the following is all too important:
To all refugees and immigrants in my midst: I love you, I see you, I’m for you.
To all black and brown spirits in my midst: I love you, I see you, I’m for you.
To all of my LGBTQ brothers and sisters: I love you, I see you, I’m for you.
To all people with faith and spiritual practices outside of one version of Christianity: I love you, I see you, I’m for you.
To all of the beautiful women in my midst: I love you, I see you, I’m for you.
To all of the non-able-bodied people in my midst: I love you, I see you, I’m for you.
To all human beings who hold a worldview of deep love, acceptance of all people, and a faith in something bigger than corporate power, narcissism and walls: I love you, I see you, I am for you
As someone who walks with hundreds of people a month, from all backgrounds, my heart and spirit ache while trying to grasp words for how I believe we are to move forward toward unity. Regardless of who was elected, my deep and consistent longing for our country is that we would begin to humanize this all too often harsh story of “other.”
Vulnerability can no longer be something we sink into when it’s safe, or when we are forced to. It’s something that lives at the center of where I believe we absolutely have to go.
As one of my teachers, Richard Rohr says:
“If we do not transform our pain, we will surely transmit it.”
I believe that all sides and positions must start laying down there own ego (mine included!) to meet others right where they are. The art of genuinely listening and being an active part of creating and modeling a new story of trust is deeply important.
I hope you are with me in not running from division, not feeding more division, and not feeding violence and hate.
Let’s go, one step at a time, into the scary and often unsafe places that threaten our own walls. Let’s be people who seek true inner freedom while learning to live more open, more loving, and more understanding.
This isn’t soft.
It’s bold. It’s action. It’s desperate.
Relephant bonus:
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Author: Jonathon Stalls
Images: via elephant journal Instagram; with permission from Tareck Raffoul
Editor: Catherine Monkman
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