Dear Reader,
Last week, while sitting here in my office space working, I heard a noise from above. This noise is distinct: a dull sound resonating in the air that gets louder and stronger. It is the sound of planes flying overhead. One group, and then another followed. It’s a scary noise. Where are they headed? Most likely into harm’s way. May those pilots be kept safe. I don’t know how most of the pilots are kept safe. Sooner or later, that could easily end.
A congregant who lives in Ukraine and attends church online told us she was safe. She sounds calm, but you can’t really be fully calm in that situation. I can’t imagine her daily life as she pursues medical studies. Planes fly there too. The darkness and cold she must live with are of concern to all of us who know her. All we can do is hold out hope that she’ll survive it all. Outside my office I hear a plane passing over. Is it a peaceful flight? I hope so.
I turn on the news to see things in the US. It isn’t safe or good at all.
How do I help others to cope with the terror they are facing when they are a person of color? I check in with my clients weekly.
The real horror is that I understand that history is repeating itself. This time in a country that has never fully understood what they have had by way of safety and peace. It is now fading. All I can say is brown shirts. I think it, and I shudder. All I can think about is that piece I read about the person who was left alone when they came for him, and not one person was left to stand for him. No, not one. Are we willing to show up for those who need us?
I hold out hope that the protesters will be heard, and that they will be successful. At the same time, I pray for their safety. Protesting is dangerous work. Peaceful protesting is a skill that many are learning rapidly. I know those who are showing up, and I know that they show courage in showing up.
When things went wrong in Paris a few years ago, someone in the neighborhood lit up a peace sign. I thought that it was a nice gesture of solidarity. Would it do much? No, just that gesture of support. Now I look back on that, and I think that it was a bright beacon of support for Paris. Maybe someone saw it and took time to think about what happened in the city of lights.
What will our international gesture of understanding be for those who are having their peace stolen from them? What will the legacy of those who have been killed be? I don’t know, and so I’ll put this up, tag it, and continue to raise my voice in the only way I can. I’ll do what I can as a therapist and spiritual director. I’ll continue to ask myself and others: “Is it well with your soul?” and to nurture that safety from within. Maybe that is my role in this. I know I must sing—if only in my own home. We must overcome. I think of the verse that is in “We Shall Overcome” and understand that only truth will make us free. Joan Baez and others have rung out in quiet protest. The words sung are truth.
As I look back over my own personal work during the past three years, I think about how I was led and was able to find the right people to become a part of my life: friends and others who were willing to risk involvement as I discharged trauma. While what I did was gutsy, what the world has to do now is even more gutsy. Do we as world citizens have the courage to make peace with ourselves inside our own souls and move it out to our families, the neighborhoods, and then beyond?
During the past few months, I’ve become a more peaceful soul, and I believe it has to do with the healing that I’ve done. It is deep soul work. I could not have foreseen this in my life. I’ll take it, and so much more.
I’ll leave this thought with you:
Breathe out the tension of hate and violence.
Breathe in the fullness that you are enough.
Breathe out what you cannot control.
Breathe in the courage to claim what you can do yourself.
Remember that it is in community that our strength is strongest.
If you need to find a professional, don’t hesitate to do so. This type of stress can be managed.
In peace and hope,
Gail