later that night
I held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole world
and whispered
where does it hurt?
it answered
everywhere
everywhere
everywhere
(by Warsan Shire)
I cannot listen to any more self-righteous, patriarchal, outraged
men (and even some women) spouting fear and stirring up hatred. Violence and
murder are happening everywhere – the MidEast, Europe, Africa, the United
States, Asia, South America, Canada -no place is immune. I live in a
town where 20 children were murdered three years ago, and it has changed and
scarred all of us here forever. It's overwhelming. Yesterday morning, I turned off the TV and the computer and went
outside.
We are trying to remove mountains of dead leaves, and my
husband has been using the mighty leaf blower to push them into enormous
piles. While gathering them next to the
pasture, a flurry of leaves and small branches attached themselves to Silk’s
tail. It was clearly irritating her. So I took my horse into her stall and
began to extract the twigs and leaves carefully from her tail. It was slow and tedious work since I was
trying not to pull, and the leaves were sticky.
I remembered how when I first got Silk, she hated humans so
much that she would stand with her back end firmly planted at the door of her
stall, warning people to not invade her territory or come close. I respected her and understood she had good reasons why she was
acting that way, and it took literally years before she and I were comfortable
being in her stall together. Now, I
stood next to her strong right back leg without any concern that she would kick
me or attempt to hurt me in any way. The
power of love, I thought. Never
under-estimate it. Love and respect and dignity for humans, for animals, for
every living thing.
Recently, I’ve become very
interested in the writing and work of Nina Simons, co-founder of the
Bioneers. She tells us: “My heart keens
with the sense of life’s very fabric unraveling. But imagine, instead of people
being the instruments of Earth’s destruction, if we re-enter a sacred
partnership with all of Life on behalf of her healing.
May we remember how to bring the wholeness of
our humanity — our deep
listening, our patient observation, our loving, powerful and tender hearts and
our humble hands — and our prayers — to co-creating the
conditions for thriving life.”
We are at a critical point. Around the world, in small, unpublicized
pockets, I am learning of strong women who are bravely changing things for the
better. I think about them all the time
now, day and night, and while it frightens me to think about how it will change my life if I
make this kind of commitment, and I don’t even understand yet what it means I
will do, I know that what women do right now will have the power to change everything, and
it’s time to give it all we’ve got. Never underestimate the power of
love.
(Check out World Pulse ( http://www.worldpulse.com/en) an
on-line communication network for all
women, even in remote parts of the world, to speak out and join together in
active connection. It’s inspiring. )
