There you are!

“look at other people and ask yourself if you are really seeing them or just your thoughts about them.... Without knowing it, we are coloring everything, putting our spin on it all.”

                             ― Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are

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who are you, that ardent Bernie or Hillary supporter,

flooding Facebook with statements I deem half true

heaping hate upon those who dare oppose?

who are you, follower of Trump

full of anger, and sure that if we just use violence

and impose our way, our values, our agenda

we will be great again?

who are you

that person with the sign that says “God hates fags”

or the one who wishes to deport or imprison all Muslims?

who are you

the one using pot, or pain killers,

or meth or alcohol to get numb

who am I?

that face looking out of the mirror

that one who has done good things, and bad things,

that person who has been caring and kind

but who has also manipulative and grasping?

do I really see you?

do I really see myself?

or do I stop in the shallows

never really plumbing the depths

of your heart, your soul?

how often do I merely slap on a stereotype

a judgement, and react?

disliking, perhaps (dare I say it) hating you?

disliking, hating even myself?

who are you?  who am I?

out past the shallows are deep pools

of fear, and loneliness,

pain and emptiness

down in those depths may be a young woman who has been assaulted

or a boy who has been bullied

in those depths may be rejection or neglect

in there may be a person who has received the brutal blows of hate,

one who has been deemed sinful because of the way he or she was born

I am humbled by what I do not know

Help me O Sacred!

May the Presence of the Sacred in me

Give me the courage to step out of the shallows

and into the deep depths

of the other’s heart and soul (as much as the other can allow)

that I may see them, truly

Help me O Sacred

Give me the courage, and compassion, to see myself

And give me the open heart, O Beloved,

to see You, not just my thoughts about You!