In a lather
Dear friends,
How are you moving through this moment? I’m trying not to panic, so I’m drinking a lot of herbal tea, doing some minor yoga and meditation, and imagining us coming out on the other side with clean hands and group hugs. And I’m wondering what this pause can teach us. Maybe when it’s over, we’ll:
-Wash our hands more often.
-Call our mothers more often.
-Text or call or write the people we’re thinking about.
-Offer more of ourselves to our communities.
-Spend more time outside.
-Do a better job sourcing our information.
-Be more comfortable with the idea of giving up individual liberties in exchange for group safety and security.
-Recognize our ability to quickly adapt and change our lives in service of the common good (cough, cough climate emergencies).
-Recognize how fragile our safety nets are and demand they be strengthened.
-Elect leaders who know how to lead, who tell the truth, and who take responsibility for missteps.
That’s my hope. What’s yours? The comment thread is open. Tell me what you’re thinking about in terms of how this massive change could massively change us.
In the meantime, I’ll be trying to schedule a Google hangout with some faraway friends. Really, something we should do on the regs. Much love to you and yours,
XO
L.
FOR HOPE:
Once the World Was Perfect
by Joy Harjo
Once the world was perfect, and we were happy in that world.
Then we took it for granted.
Discontent began a small rumble in the earthly mind.
Then Doubt pushed through with its spiked head.
And once Doubt ruptured the web,
All manner of demon thoughts
Jumped through—
We destroyed the world we had been given
For inspiration, for life—
Each stone of jealousy, each stone
Of fear, greed, envy, and hatred, put out the light.
No one was without a stone in his or her hand.
There we were,
Right back where we had started.
We were bumping into each other
In the dark.
And now we had no place to live, since we didn't know
How to live with each other.
Then one of the stumbling ones took pity on another
And shared a blanket.
A spark of kindness made a light.
The light made an opening in the darkness.
Everyone worked together to make a ladder.
A Wind Clan person climbed out first into the next world,
And then the other clans, the children of those clans, their children,
And their children, all the way through time—
To now, into this morning light to you.
FOR WAYBACK LAUGHS: