Senators Making a Pledge of Allegiance to All…
Up early this morning, reading thru Facebook, which has become a direct route to speak to a bunch of people and hear what a bunch of people have to say. Mostly reading, listening, and sometimes really hearing, and then even more rarely I write a post. Mostly I share what others have posted. This morning it was a source of news for me. The Senate did not pass the universal background check. What is interesting and encouraging is that a large population of people know what that term means. We are listening and we are hearing. We are being forced to. Destructive forces are looming large in our lives. Nearly everyday there is another travesty, tragedy. And it hits closer and closer to home if it already hasn’t.
Peace and love…a force for change. It is true. Be kind to someone who at least halfway expects otherwise. Watch the transformation of the interaction. I am a person who has been mean to people anonymously on the phone when I didn’t get what I wanted. I can no longer do that. Instead, I am honest. I express what I feel and what is true for me. And I expect others to do the same in relationship to me and in the world. Otherwise, my life is filled with lies and I do not know what is true. There is too much to sift thru that is true and I have no time for what is not.
And so my patience with people who know better than to be mean is challenged a lot. BUT…I am seeing a difference. I am seeing, that despite what we might be told otherwise, we are beginning to see each other. Too many of us have been touched by sorrow, the violent death of innocents. I am a grandmother of 9 beautiful beings who deserve to live in a world that is at peace with itself. I am mother of 3 beautiful beings that deserve to live a life of peace and love and joy and harmony. That is all I have ever wanted for them because in having that they get to experience a life they can sink back into. Snuggle up. I do not feel that is the way of the world at large.
At small (if you will allow me my own metaphor) the world is full of all of that. We know love and wish for it. We are forgetting what a peaceful world feels like and looks like and accepting a modified version of what we hope for. We allow Senators to speak for a very small minority, rather than the masses who think they have elected them. In reality it seems that special interest groups elected them and keep them in fear of the next election. How do we fix that?
What would happen if a Senator could not be elected twice? Instead, senators would only have one term. Would that be enough to make a difference in who they served? I am pretty sure it would take more than that. When they are sworn in, what are they swearing to? Who are they pledging allegiance to? Perhaps they could pledge allegiance to the earth and all of her inhabitants. That would be a good refresh button to hit.
Perhaps we can and will and do. Stand by it. Live our lives by it. And drive around with a peace and love sticker on our car as our public declaration of our intention. That is what I do, as well as some of my friends and people I have met along the way. It makes a difference in how I drive and who I am behind the wheel of my car most of the time. Admittedly, there are days when “I cannot believe that person is allowed on the road!” I’m a work in progress.

So what do we do? What do we believe in? How do we truly take a stand for it? Probably it is different for everyone but it all does start at home. Right here inside of ourselves. Being kind to ourself gives us a platform to stand on and then reach out to others. “Put your own mask on first before attempting to help the person beside you.” The implication is that you are taking care of yourself so that you can take care of others and the planet. It makes sense. Feed ourselves well. Exercise. Meditate. Pray. Love. My experience is that it leaks out to others automatically. People can tell and they respond. It is true there are those who do exactly the opposite. Some part of their heart is missing and they put the blame on outside forces to fix it in the name of some cause. What cause is justified in the killing of innocents?
Rather than blame those people, we must respond with a strength that rivals theirs. Not a destructive strength as theirs is, a CONSTRUCTive strength with peace and love as our intention of a force for change. Which means we will have to do something real in that regard. Take a step. Baby step. Then a bit bigger and a bit bigger…that part will come on its own as we continue to walk toward change. But we have to walk. Push the edge of our comfort zone and then relax into where it works for us in that moment.
Well, the birds are singing and the light is coming up in the sky. Another day of possibilities.






