Reflections on Unrest and Dis-ease in our Society
Forced to Surrender
Reflections on Unrest and Dis-ease in Our Society
Our country is a tinderbox right now. It would only have taken the slightest provocation for the last threads that held our divided nation together to be worn away. Now we are literally going up in flames and the world is watching. Though all the personal work I have done in the past 7 years has been on finding ways to live without fear, and I have been mostly successful, I am fearful for the future of our society. My heart is breaking for the oppressed, a group all of us belong to except for the very rich who wield such great power. Many are blind to their own oppression, and perhaps believe that if rights and resources are being taken from others they are doing better and are being looked after. Yet they have lost sight of the fact that when one group is persecuted, it is only a matter of time before more and more groups are stripped of their rights as well. A just society is one that looks after the rights of all of its citizens and the environment too.
And it cannot be overlooked that inequities are worse for people of color and immigrants and that supposed officers of the law abuse them over and over again. Lynching is alive and well in this country through law enforcement, prisons, and the justice system. I was too young to protest in the Viet Nam war, but I began attending protests for the environment in my 50s to bear witness to people standing up for the rights of the environment, which cannot speak for itself. I did not chain myself to equipment or break the law, but I was present and even spent a week at Standing Rock, where I learned so much about the injustices committed against our country’s first inhabitants. I could feel in my bones that it was time for change. At Standing Rock things began peacefully and the elders came in the hopes that their presence would keep it that way. But as more and more force was used against the peaceful protestors, it became harder and harder for them not to defend themselves or stand up for their rights–especially for the young who are often the change agents for societies.
What is happening in Minneapolis and around the country right now is an outpouring of grief and anger that has been pent up inside people since the very foundation of this country. We as a people have never healed and proper atonement has not been made to indigenous people or the descendants of slaves that were brought here against their will in atrocious conditions. Rather, under the current administration, the abuse has become exponentially worse and those that perpetrate discrimination have felt more and more entitled to express their views and act unethically. People see this. The truth cannot be hidden and there reaches a point when the psyches of the oppressed snap and they can no longer be treated abusively and stay sane. As I have watched what is happening and heard comments people have made, especially how violence never wins, something inside me becomes angry at hearing canned responses that I may have felt to be true in the past. Not that I promote violence or destruction of any sort, but I understand that to make a statement like that the person likely feels that there is another way to be heard and probably has more rights to begin with. Nobody really wants to blow things up or set fires in their cities. It is a scream for help that needs to be heard instead of silenced with force.
When my children were young, one of my sons bit his brother. They were under the care of a baby sitter at the time and I don’t really know what happened. That isn’t really the point of this story, though if the babysitter had bitten someone it would be. I had to go to the doctor with the boys. The child who was bitten expected his brother to get in trouble. We had a very insightful and wise doctor. Instead of chastising the one who was the biter, he looked right at my bitten son and asked him what on earth he had done to provoke such a response. He knew my son who had bitten him was a gentle person and the response was so out of character that he recognized he must have felt he had no other choice but to bite to defend himself. The biter has grown up to be one of the most ethical people I have met in my life, and perhaps the doctor’s question about his role was an important formative experience for him. As I watch what is happening today, I do not care to ask if there is something wrong with those who are setting our cities streets and buildings on fire. Rather, the question is why has our society allowed them to be oppressed to such an extent that they feel this is their only recourse? What can be done to bridge the inequities and ensure that people can go about living their lives without fear that they will be killed just because they are black or Hispanic or Native American.
I am privileged. I am deeply aware of this. I have the option to sit at home and only focus on spiritual matters and tell myself that the light always wins, especially if I put out more healing energy. I have the option to decide that the news is too depressing or too toxic and that I don’t want to hear it any more. I will still eat. I will still have a roof over my head. I will have access to masks, and running water, and hand sanitizer, and the government will not send body bags for my family (though one of my sons contracted a lingering case of Covid–none of us is exempt) as they did the Navajo nation. But I cannot do this. Some wonder why I needlessly subject myself to worry and sadness, when I am safe. Yet, I cannot turn away, because to do so would make me complicit as well. I have to bear witness and demand change. Our democracy and so many countless lives, which all matter, are dependent on all of us opening our eyes.
When my father was dying, he told me the most important thing for people to know is that it is important to be two-faced without being hypocritical. Now more than ever, I feel the importance of this. It is critical if we want to heal our society and ourselves that we do our best to imagine standing in someone else’s shoes so we might understand how they experience the world. Empathy is the bridge to unity. But I don’t believe that empathy is just intellectually saying we understand it might be hard for a certain group. Empathy is feeling what others are going through, but still recognizing who we are and our own background and privilege. Though I may not be black or Native American or Hispanic, and to pretend I am would be hypocritical, I am a woman. If I imagine multiplying the discrimination I have endured by some exponential factor, I can feel as well as understand why all this rage against the system is being unleashed. Empathy can help us stop judging and start helping to heal the divides in this nation, and if we don’t do it soon we will be in the middle of another Civil War, if we aren’t already.
The image above and the following two are from the Legacy Museum in Montgommery, Alabama
In Chains
Below is an image I took flying into Minneapolis in January. The cracks in the iced over Mississippi River were visible from the air. My prayer is that we find a way to overcome the cracks in our society and allow the waters of brotherhood to flow free again.
Cracks in the frozen Mississippi River