Talk to the heart

“Don't give in to your fears. If you do, you won't be able to talk to your heart.”

                                                          Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

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I suspect that America has long be a country of fear

I am not sure when it started

Maybe we have always been a little frightened of failure

That we would be the biggest, the most powerful, the best

The need to dominate seems to be woven into the fabric of our being

But this fear seems new

Somehow deeper, and uglier

Perhaps it started on 9/11

Perhaps it started when fear was feed and nourished

As we ramped up to war

Perhaps, for some it began when we elected a black President

Or when diversity, cultural, religious, and ethnic

Became more visible

I know, from talking with friends, that many felt great dread during the Obama years

Afraid that closely held values would be threatened

I know that many are afraid of people whose looks and beliefs are different from theirs

Now, with Trump, and his ascendency into power, other people are afraid

Muslims, Hispanics, the LGBTQI community

As they see people with long histories or racism and prejudice being placed into positions of power

(Bannon and Sessions are two examples)

And this fear, is deadly

We are seeing aggression. Hate. Bullying. We are seeing those who now have power showing many signs that they might abuse that power.

This has happened so often in the history of the world.  When the oppressed get power, they oppress

So now those who have NOT been listened to.  Whose fears and concerns were ignored by those in power, are ready for revenge.  They are ready to make all of “them” pay.

Fear breaks us apart as a society.  It divides us.

Because it makes it so that we can’t talk to our hearts

Its all “us” and “them”

And “we” have to do whatever we can to benefit ourselves, protect ourselves, enshrine our values and belief.

We are all wrapped up in the need to dominate, crush, protect

All wrapped up in what will benefit us

Them?

We don’t even see them

They are ciphers

Our hearts are in exile

And we so we can’t see

Can’t hear

Can’t connect

And evil ensues

Ah, what we do to each other!

I am one of those who is afraid

I am very afraid

Not for myself, because I happen to be White, Male, Christian, Educated,

And relatively comfortable economically

But I am afraid for us

Not us as in “us” “them”

But for “us” as in “We the people….”

I am afraid for those who have the power and may misuse it, for they will destroy what they seek to preserve

I am afraid for those who hate, for they are losing their humanity

I am afraid for the church, when it aligns with hate, for it bears false witness and uses God’s name in vain.

I am afraid for the vulnerable, who may well be abused and crushed

But it am trying not to live in my fear

I am trying to breathe in the pain

The pain of those oppressed

The pain of those rejoicing that now they get to have the power

The pain of the world, which is watching

And hope that the Sacred One in my

Can transform that pain

So I can breathe out, into the space around me

Peace

I am trying to talk to my heart