“The Childs is Crying”

“Always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” Elie Wiesel

The collective grief of humanity mounted last week. We witnessed a series of tragedies, senseless deaths, wailing mothers and fathers, sobbing children. The shadow of death swept through Gilroy, California, El Paso, Texas, Dayton, Ohio and in an act of extreme cruelty, ravaged sections of Mississippi in what can only be called a pogrom.

Pogrom is a Yiddish word meaning “devastation.” It is usually associated with the targeting and persecution of Jews both in Russia and Nazi Germany. What we call the Holocaust began with anti-Semitism. Hitler, in an attempt to consolidate his power, created a common enemy. He toured Germany making speeches, rousing the crowds with fear rhetoric, demonizing the Jews as the “well-poisoners of the German people and the universal spirit of Christianity.” Mein Kampf

Millions of people died in the second world war to stop Hitler and the pestilence of Fascism which threatened to take over Europe. Millions of Jews were sent to the ovens or died of starvation and disease in concentration camps. The world staggered under the horror, but gathered strength, determination and resources to fight this threat to humanity. Countries pulled together. People made the ultimate sacrifice, because nothing mattered compared to defeating this deadly threat. Elie Wiesel, author of the above quote, was one of the survivors.

Last Wednesday, August 7, over 600 agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seized 680 migrant workers – that’s about one agent per person – and loaded them into buses, leaving hundreds of unsuspecting children abandoned.  Just think about that for a moment. Imagine your family being ravaged. The trauma of this vicious act will live in these children for the rest of their lives.

My own heart broke as I watched an 11 year old Mexican-American girl sobbing into a TV camera and saying in her halting English, “Governments, where is your heart? The Childs is crying.” All around her care-givers were attempting to comfort bereaved children. I sobbed right along with that 11 year old and my heart has been raw ever since. Yes, children around the world are wailing in anguish. Our collective heart is breaking and whether we are aware of it or not, it is affecting everyone on this planet.

Once again a darkness is rising. The power-hungry surge of Fascism is gathering force. It has taken hold in Russia and North Korea. Turkey has fallen under its spell. The Philippines and Brazil have succumbed. And now, America! America the Beautiful, the land of the free and the home of the brave – the beacon of freedom for the world – is being engulfed by this darkness. While we worry about the economy, we are losing our democracy. The raid last Wednesday is a warning sign. If we don’t take a stand now, we may miss our only chance.

Our president is fighting for re-election and using fear and hatred to rally his cult followers. He has targeted Hispanic immigrants. He has told us they are criminals, rapists, drug dealers. He has put hundreds of children in concentration camps and now he has started rounding up the workers. We know where this leads.

So what do we do? I think about this every day – all day – and dream about it all night. Faced this week with overwhelming grief, I felt my confidence falter. The enormity of the task towered over me. I felt outrage, but also impotence. I considered giving up this blog. Retreating to the safety of my inner world and private life. I finally realized that my personal comfort is irrelevant in the face of this challenge. Humanity is facing a final exam and failure means extinction! It makes me tremble inside when I contemplate that possibility. It’s time to choose sides and fight for what we believe in.

Where do we start? The most obvious answer is the coming election, but that is over a year away. We can’t wait. What do we do in the meantime? Get informed, for starters.

I am reading a challenging book entitled Savage Grace: Living Resiliently in the Dark Night of the Globe. How’s that for a grave title? No pun intended. The majority of us are not fully aware of the potential disaster ahead. I am realizing that I have been looking for the bright side – and I will continue to do that – but I have not wanted to consider the full impact of the collision ahead if we do not change our course, and fast!

This is a sobering book, but it offers a formula for navigating these times with the greatest amount of grace. The outcome is not certain, and while we hate uncertainty, we’re going to have to learn to live with it, and better – take advantage of it. If the future isn’t set in stone, we can still change it.

The authors, Andrew Harvey and Carolyn Baker, state that resilience is the absolute crux of how we must respond to the terrifying and daunting events unfolding in our time. They define resilience as “the life-giving ability to shift from a reaction of denial or despair to learning, growing, and thriving in the midst of challenge.”

Learning, growing and thriving – that’s the prescription. They go on to outline the four R’s – Reconnection, Resistance, Resilience and Regeneration. We begin with Reconnection. Begin with yourself. Reconnect with your body, your feelings, your values and principles. Then seek the source of inner strength that lies deep within, beneath the rubble of your ego’s life story. Your true, essential, authentic, sacred Self will inform you, support you, guide you. This connection is essential. Then reconnect to this world – to nature, to the elements, the day and night sky. Experience yourself at one with it all.

I listened to a four-day summit on reuniting science and spirituality last week. I was most impressed by what an indigenous woman had to say. When asked what the Elders suggested on how to heal our planet, she replied, and I paraphrase, “Reconnect with the Earth. Dance your feet upon her soil. Hold her in your heart. Give thanks for her abundance and share your love with her.” I had a vision of Mother Earth self-healing with the support of our love. I saw this simple solution as primary. Yes, we need to clean up our refuse, stop poisoning our air, water and soil, stop throwing away billions of plastic water bottles, move to clean energy sources. But first we need to remember, and practice, our love for our beautiful planet.

Next Thursday, 8/15, is the full moon in Aquarius opposite the Sun in Leo. Sun is conjunct Venus. It’s a great opportunity to begin to reconnect the parts of yourself – your head with your heart, your breath with your belly, your feet with the Earth – and practice your love.