Someone recently wrote to me: The worlds of truth and illusion are like parallel universes. With every thought we must make a choice which to inhabit.
We, as a nation, must make a decision come this November 2024. Will we embrace the truth that we are stronger when we stand together or choose to live in chaos and constant fear mongering?
These past three weeks have been like a roller coaster of frustration, sadness, fear, anger… and finally joy, relief, and excitement. When I heard that President Biden had finally decided to bow out of the presidential race and to pass the torch onto Vice President Kamala Harris, I was shocked and elated when I first heard the news on MSNBC. Up to that point I had been hoping against hope that he would make the wisest decision for the sake of the country and for this next generation. And when he recommended that Vice President Kamala Harris succeed him, I couldn’t stop screaming with joy, tears and disbelief nor could the folks in my workshop.
You could see the excitement and elation on everyone’s faces. Hope had returned and with that hope… that history somehow could be rewritten and that tomorrow the sun could once more rise to the birth of a new day. We have been living too long under the dark shadow of those who want us to fear everything and everyone they can’t understand or control, such as diversity trainings and books on racism and gay issues, as well as anything that makes them feel “uncomfortable.” I guess that is often the reaction to change and having to face that behind all our hatreds is a much deeper truth: our resistance and fears of fully embracing and honoring those who are different from ourselves. As Virginia Wolfe once wrote: We are all different. What divides or brings us together, is the value we place on those differences.
Contrary to most myths, talking about our history of racism and sexism, violence and slavery will not destroy us, but rather offer us an opportunity to take responsibility for the pain we have caused and to examine how each of us needs to change in order to make this a better world, not just for a select few, but for all of us. James Baldwin said it best: Not everything can be changed, but nothing can be changed unless it is faced.
And now, once again, we are facing a crossroads of conscience and possibility. Will history remember us for how we came together or for how much we gave into hate and fear and division? As a young Latino man shared why he voted for President Kennedy: I voted for him because he made me feel good about myself and he made me feel good about others.
