Divided.
Fearing one another.
We are placing people in boxes and categories
Forming pre-conceived notions of who they are and what they do
Because of our self-imposed social rank in society.
We are treating one another different, because of our job titles, our last name, how much money is in our bank account, and
because of the color of our skin.
I have to remind myself again today
that we are not police officers
we are not unarmed black men
we are not even, spiritual leaders.
We are human beings.
And our actions are inexcusable.
We have begun again to let the stories run our lives. Who they are and the type of things they do.
I am in Costa Rica. And I find myself, too, giving up my power, my rights, my compassion, because I let myself think that someone deserves more than me because of how they are ranked in society.
And I must take responsibility for this thought.
What has happened in Ferguson is happening everywhere. We live in a world where we still have discrimination, racism and widespread injustice. We still see things in terms of hierarchies and power struggles. And, if you can see how the root cause of what happened in Ferguson are the same roots that cause your own internal pain, and the same roots that cause suicides, and rape and even pesticide-induced-illness, you will see how we are all involved and can all be activists.
We find ourselves, our human race, still rooted in the misconception of "separation" and that is what is breeding injustice.
There is a problem with stereotypes for the conditioned mind that accepts everything that is conveyed to them as the whole truth. Stereotypes can and often hold true. However, they seldom tell the whole story.
They seldom acknowledge the fact that deep beneath the stereotype is
just another human being
longing for something different.
A way to climb out of their stereotype
or story
and live a life that makes them feel more free.
just like you
and me.
just like we all want to feel more free.
What happens to you, person reading this, when you don't feel free? Do you lash out at other people? Do you resent those who have made you feel trapped? Do you search for those who make you feel free and shun those who don't?
Maybe you don't want to be classified with the corrupt corporate greedy men.
Maybe you don't want to be brushed off as a tree-hugger.
Maybe you don't want to be feared for the color of your skin
But you just. don't. know. how to climb out of the box
Because we are trained in our schools, in our advertisements, and in our systems of governments and economies to stay inside our box. You are black. You are white. You are an immigrant. You are a high-class man. You are fancy. You are poor. By staying separated in these boxes, the systems keep us divided. They keep us fearing the 'other'. If you are poor, you fear the fancy. This way, we give up some of our power. This way, those who have led us to believe that they are 'above' can keep us under control. Do you get that? There are no boxes!! We invented them, and then quite willingly, climbed inside! Because somehow, it makes us feel safer. Even though if you wake up...
And you see the school shootings. The suicides. The heart disease. The rapes. The murders. The violence. The depression. The sadness. Right inside "the land of the free." the "UNITED" States of America.
You might just see, that our institutions, as they were created, no longer (if ever) serve us as united human beings.
This part, is now up to us, as collective citizens. We must climb out of the boxes that have been created to control us, and realise that we are capable of controlling ourselves.
And this starts with each and everyone of us.
If we want it, that is.
If we want a world that is better for all of us. We must then, learn and commit to being with one another.
I don't know if this will create a perfect human race. I don't know if a perfect human race is possible. I don't know if we can completely eradicate poverty and disease. Disease in both the physical and mental form.
I do know that we are capable of something more than we are living right now.
And so I ask you, And I ask myself:
Are you really listening?
Looking her in the eyes as she speaks
as a human being
and hearing what it is that she really wants?
Feeling who it is that she really is?
It starts with you. You need to be there with yourself.
Can you sit with yourself, alone, and be at peace with who you are?
And if you can't
Because you, too, have betrayed your wife. Forgotten to love your children. Or were frustrated with the man who couldn't speak your language, so you dismissed him as an "immigrant" and not
Another human being.
Then maybe we can start to see how what has happened in Ferguson
Has not happened in Ferguson. It has happened everywhere.
It is happening everywhere.
It is happening inside of each and everyone of us.
So, as you read the news, to stay informed
As you share opinions with friends
As you get angry and passionate, frustrated and sad
Please, too, come back to yourself. The only person you really have control over.
And hold yourself accountable
Just as we want to hold the police officers accountable
And we will
Together
Find accountability.
We just need to start with ourselves first. Because that is the way we have the most power.
And we need all of you. To make this change.
To show that we don't stand for injustice
Because it affects all of us.
So, please, do, stay informed
Please do, engage in conversations about why this stuff hurts you
Why you are angry
But before you project the anger onto someone else
Naively believing that if you feel the anger towards the officers, you will change something...
Stop.
And please do, ask yourself
Why this makes you angry. Where is the anger coming?
And if you sit there long enough with your anger
Perhaps you will begin to get sad.
Because you realise that your anger comes
Because you want more love.
Because you are sad for the boy who has lost his life. You are sad for his family. You are sad for his community.
You are even sad, too, because you can relate. Because you know what it feels like to be betrayed by the people who you were told were here to protect you. To care for you.
So, yes, we have the right to be angry.
Yes, I am angry.
Everyday, actually.
Now, I must take that anger and harness all of its passion and power and channel it through love. I must love a little bit more so that there is less space for injustice. Because I won't stand for it. I won't let them tell me that I must treat them differently because of the color of their skin or their last name or their uniform.
If they are in front of me, I will sit there with them. I will take off the hood through the lens I wear of stereotypes the world has sold me, and I will look into their eyes. And listen. And if they are hurting, I will ask them why? And if they are happy, I will see if I can feel their happiness.
And if they are in front of me, with their fancy collars and stern demeanour, covering up years of anger and unasked questions. I will look past it all. And I will look into their eyes. And I will ask them, "What are you afraid of? What happened to you when you were a child that made you think this way?"
And if they are in front of me, with their white skin, or dark skin, US passport, or unstamped document, I will let it all fall away, and I will look them in the eyes and I will ask them, "What is it that you need to be able to love your family?"
And if I am in front of me, looking at myself with my white skin, I will ask myself, "What do you need to be able to love yourself? So that you stop hurting others?"
How you can hold yourself more accountable
For living a life deeply grounded in the values you want our police officers to show?
Because I am not perfect.
I am, however, capable of waking up.
And I am responsible only for my own life and the way I live it.
It is not our place to judge. It is not our place to blame.
It is our place to be accountable
And we can join hands and stand up for
not against
*for*
The world and the USA and the people that we believe in
Stand up for what we want it to look like,
not the USA that claims something that it does not show.
We will not live outside of integrity
If our country is to boast it's values, then we will show what that looks like,
not in name, not in theory
In action.
And we can be angry
And we will hold all those accountable, who do not hold themselves accountable
But first, we must show that we hold ourselves accountable
For our own stories
That is the only way we can join hands together. All those who have awakened. And all those who want to wake up, they just have been too broken by fears and worries and stereotypes, to ask for our help. For our companionships.
And especially those, who are not yet ready to wake up, to look injustice in the face and accept that we are the cause of it. We, still, must have that much love, that much grace and power, to keep our hands open and ready to accept them when they come.
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