Tag: war

To the White Folk,

To those that think people are coming to your homes to loot you, harm you and Goddess only knows what else is in your heads…you’re not that special. Maybe herein lies the problem and is  the root of why we stand so divided, still. It’s not really, just about guns after all. It’s about the man behind the gun. It’s the man that thinks he’s God rather than feels the love of all things Godly in his heart. The man that say’s “I worked for this,” and vows to claim authority over any other that doesn’t work/think as he does — forget sharing/reciprocity. It’s the man that listens literally to the external — no questions. No curiosity. It is the man that builds his fence so high as to prove something, uses all capital letters and exclamation points. No pause. Not a soft semicolon. It is the man that says — Don’t be so sensitive. Don’t cry.  Buck up. This man likes to speak in extremes. It keeps his blood pumping. The flag waving. 

I personally have seen the rifles at the door. I was called a beggar and a bitch myself.  Yes, I hear you #AOC. And this was from the mouths of one of my own Brothers and White Father. I share this because what’s personal, absolutely, is collective. We are a World Family. It’s time to get on board. It doesn’t mean things will be perfect nor will we see the change we want to see in a fortnight. Being a World Family doesn’t mean you need a passport — but we damn well better care for lands and the people of that land we lay our feet on. Being in this world means to see some Divine spark in the eyes of others and if it’s not there, to say — How come? I’m listening. How have I contributed/or not?  Being in this World Family means to know that The Divine wants everyone to feel Joy. Freedom. This is our natural state. In my humble opinion, this really is the work between White Men/Women. How many White humans have you been in the presence of, that truly know ecstasy? Ritual? Joy? Unity? Familial/Friendly Love and bonds not built on shame? 

Being alive today, this year, in this world means we are witnessing our failed framework — a system of hierarchy; a world designed by and for White Men. It is a world where painful truths were not taught. History, romantically portrayed. Guns equate to heros. Heroes equate to dominance. Winners/Losers. White/Black. Rich/Poor. Man/Woman. To be here today is to be traumatized by War. War literally. War figuratively — Between us or them, red or blue, capable vs not. Dear White folk, we’ve got work to do — Healing and Recovery to do.  It would be so easy, soothing, like your mouth to your mother’s milk to maintain normalcy. The thing is, that’s our normal. Not Humanity’s normal. We are a World Family.  

Are We Really at War?

With much respect for those on the health care lines, always, including the patients, I bow to you. I also want to take a moment and express my concern around the  “war”  language blooming in these deeply strange and ambivalent times. To go to “war” on something that “doesn’t want to fight with you,” is a narrative, after deep thought, that I’d like to see retire. – The Saving lives as a Battle – The War on Drugs – The War on Poverty-  When we use terminology such as battle, fight, kill what are we communicating to the layperson?  To the sick?  To the vulnerable? To ourselves?  Do we call it a “fight,” to perhaps soothe our very own fear of mortality, stroke our egos; ease our pains?

Our health isn’t an absence of illness whether acute or chronic. It’s neither an absence of virus, trauma, tumors, infection or mental affliction. These pieces, either one or/and the other that may visit us one day or already do, are parts of our WHOLE health.  Just as poverty and drug addiction are pieces and reflections of a society and its health at large. We don’t need to battle it. We need to understand it from a holistic lens; to view the bigger canvas. We need to treat a human being undergoing surgery, as a whole being, not as parts to a car. Even treatment from a microscopic realm includes vast geography. These parts of me , you, society are not intentionally trying to battle us.  So why wage a war?  

I ask, “Is there an alternative expression for War?”  I don’t know, but I think it’s time to grow out of hostile acts, upon the Other and most importantly, our Selves.