{what matters}

I am so heartbroken by what is happening in this country. It isn't about guns or violence- they are just horrible symptoms of the real malaise, which is deep and pervasive fear.

People fear each other, they fear that someone will get what they think belongs to them. They fear the scarcity of resources. Fear being scorned for talking about issues like sexism, racism, and inequality. Everyone is afraid to be uncomfortable, to insult, to be insulted. We have turned inward and have forgotten that family and community are what make life worthwhile. Overcoming obstacles together make our relationships grow- it does not diminish them.

We are constantly tuned into electronic boxes that tell us to be afraid. TV has inflamed our collective fear of life to such a degree that we’ve forgotten that we are here to LOVE one another and make and experience beautiful things.

People often look at me like I am a complete lightweight when I talk about LOVE after circumstances like the ones we are currently facing. BUT ITS IS THE ONLY FORCE POWERFUL ENOUGH TO CHANGE OUR HEARTS AND MAKE THINGS BETTER. LOVE for one another is the only way we are going to understand each other and stop feeling afraid of each other.

LOVE is how we are going to heal this tremendous pain in our hearts, and make no mistake, we ALL feel it this pain regardless of color or gender or sexual orientation because it is like cancer at the very heart of our society. This great fear is the natural legacy of an entire society built on the domination and subjugation of other human beings, and frankly, until that is addressed head on, it is going to continue. This strange capacity for establishing fanciful hierarchies is the natural legacy of the genocide of native peoples and slavery of Africans that NO ONE seems willing to discuss. Keeping painful things hidden away never makes them go away. It makes them fester until they burst. Every upheaval in human history demonstrates this fact.

But, when we begin to have honest conversations, acknowledging that we all suffer, albeit differently, we all do suffer as a result of this horrible legacy, we can start to heal. Black folks feel angry, white folks feel guilty, women, non-Christian, brown, and LGBTQ folks feel anxious and fearful, really, WE HAVE GOT HUGE ISSUES to work through, and unless we say these things out loud to each other, we cannot really begin the long, difficult process of healing.

The media is hellbent on convincing us that everything is terrifying and dangerous. It simply isn’t true. LOVE is the antidote to fear. Loving one another is essential now. There are bad people of every skin color and age and religion and gender, but there are still significantly more good and loving people. People who are willing to go out of their ways to help each other and who want to understand one another.

I keep advocating for more conversation because it ultimately leads to compassion and LOVE, it also leads to better action. If we listen to each other then we inevitably grow to LOVE one another, and you simply cannot shoot someone you love. It has been my experience that if you know a person's story, it is impossible not to feel empathy and compassion for them. So many white Americans feel like they have no right to discuss racism and this feeling keeps them silent when they witness it. We are all going to have to get very comfortable having uncomfortable conversations if we want to come through this without a great deal more violence. We have to rebel against the power structure that relies on our fear and start listening to one another instead of letting fear own us.

I am sending my LOVE out to each one of you, today. It is the best thing I have to give.