My heart hurts when people want things that will end up harming others.
I have conservative minded friends. I know a few people who
voted for Trump. I’m all for having a discussion about what’s best for everyone
and listening to others in order to understand where they are coming from. But
I have yet to understand how they can want things that will hurt others.
They want to do away with sanctuary cities and affordable
care (a misnomer but that’s another post). They want to ignore the gun problem
in fear of losing their right to own…which isn’t what most are saying. They
want to build walls and take human rights away from people that “don’t belong”
here. They want to hoard their money and be allowed to do business in a way
that doesn’t factor in their fellow humans.
I suppose what I do understand is that they are afraid. All
of these desires rise out of fear, mostly a fear of “other” who they see as a
threat to them personally or their way of life.
This country, and really it’s happening around the world, is
becoming more and more polarized. I don’t want to be on the other side pointing
fingers and calling them names even when I hurt due to being misunderstood
based on a false narrative of what they think I believe because I’m liberal. I
know from talking to them that they don’t fit the conservative stereotype any
more than I fit the liberal one. People are not stereotypes. People are complex
beings ever becoming.
I’m sad and I’m frustrated and I have to realize I can’t
change others. Perhaps I can be an influence, but if I’m all about changing
them to my way of seeing the world, I’ll only end up more frustrated. This
isn’t a good use of my energy. If they aren’t willing to meet in the middle to
see how things could be done in a way that harmed none, I have to accept it.
Then I need to find ways to help make a world that works for everyone. Everyone
includes those I disagree with.
*A world that works for everyone is a challenging vision.
When we let ourselves be polarized, living in an “us vs. them” worldview, it’s
easy to leave out the other side. But there is no other side. From the
spiritual view there is only one of us here.
When we believe we are separate from one another, it’s as
though we’re living with a broken heart. The global heart is breaking, maybe even
broken. The poet and musician Leonard Cohen said in his song “Anthem”:
There is a crack in everything (there is a crack in
everything)
That's how the light gets in
Perhaps this is the way. The path to healing is being
broken. It lays waste to our old beliefs and opens us. Hopefully we open to
love, so much love the fear can’t come back in.
But a little part of me still feels fear of what might
happen. The beginning of the song mentioned above goes like this…
The birds they sang
At the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what
Has passed away
Or what is yet to be
The only thing to do is be here now, to let your heart break
and let the love in. Allow compassion to grow like grass in spring. Don’t worry
about controlling what others believe and do. Move towards the light that comes
through the cracks. That’s where the love lives. That’s what’s real. And when
someone is actually being harmed, let your heart move you to do what can help
us/you heal.
*A world that works for everyone is a part of the vision of
Centers for Spiritual Living, the organization that licenses me as a Religious
Science Practitioner.
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