Though this is not one of the customary topics of this blog, it is something that speaks to me today, and therefore I would like to speak to you of it. This column is ordinarily about those things that “All Make Sense to Me”, and not about that which doesn’t. Nevertheless, I am having difficulty moving onto the “sense” of things again, until after addressing the “senselessness” of the past week.
This past week, since the Chardon shootings, we have been bombarded from so many different perspectives of the event, and with people needing to deal with it in whatever ways seemed to resonate with them. There has been continuous and consistent exploitation and speculation by the news media about the victims, their families, the shooter, and his own family. They have given these families no hope for any kind of peace of mind throughout this horrific week, and I say a simple “Shame on you” to them, and I am grateful that I have done nothing to support their actions this week.
But this blog isn’t about judgment—certainly not of a profession that we have every right to turn away from, simply by turning off our tv sets.
I have spent the week differently. I don’t think I can recall my tv being on once this week, other than when my daughter suggested I turn on the Today show to see the young man who she and my granddaughter know well, being interviewed after trying to help that tragic morning.
I missed that interview, turned the tv off, and haven’t turned it on since. We have endless forms of being kept “up to date”, whether we choose to be or not. Whether it be through phone calls from well-meaning friends and family, or social networking, this topic has been the primary one all week. Again, I am not making judgments. We react in the ways that resonate with us.
But I always kind of hold out for that something different that people might find themselves able to resonate with. That ‘something else’ that-- though it cannot go backwards into changing anything that has happened-- can propel us forward into evolving into our own highest version of ourselves.
I have a healing circle, and frequently send out requests for healing and assistance to those who are going through periodic challenges, whether health challenges, emotional challenges, or life challenges.
I did not send a healing request out this week; I knew these people would already be doing that, without it being requested of them. I waited until today to contact them, and to give voice to my thoughts which have taken me nearly a week to put into any kind of reasonable order.
I spent my week in prayer, meditation, and candlelight vigils. I held those children in my heart. I cried for their families and friends. I expressed myself briefly on Facebook in response to many offers of condolence, angry outbursts, and some very logical statements. They have been vastly varied.
Today, I would ask that we move beyond the anger…..the hatred…..the disgust. It is so easy to feel it; I’m feeling it now simply in the writing of this statement . Just because I know what’s needed, doesn’t mean I have it mastered. Nevertheless, I do know what is needed.
Our anger, hatred, disgust over the events of the past week serves nothing but to ignite more anger, hatred, and disgust. We are appalled. We are horrified. We have every right to be. But we are also the survivors…..the ones left behind to pick up the pieces. The ones the Universe has designated to “fix this!”
We all have a role to play now…..We are still in this world, and we need to evolve into that highest version of ourselves. We have millions of children looking to us for guidance, direction, even purpose. We really don’t have time for the anger and the hatred anymore; we have work to do.
I don’t think I want to call this a “challenge”; I’m not looking for competitive terms that connote game-playing. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to ask for a united front.
I had commented a few days ago on a social network, that we can no longer look at the “sins of the father” scenario….
We are all products of what and where we come from. My grandchildren are products of my children. My children are products of ME. I am a product of my parents. You are a product of yours. Your parents were products of their parents…..and on and on it goes back to the time of Creation.
When does it stop? Which generation is responsible for saying, “No more; it stops here. It stops with me!” Every generation has that responsibility, but not very many take it. Mankind will evolve when people stop making excuses for themselves based upon ‘family history’.
“Family history” is a western term that no other culture even accepts…..not even in medicine. We are meant to be “born anew”. If we were all here to simply repeat the errors of the past, then why are new souls coming into the world every day?
Why are they necessary?
Adam and Eve (and their contemporaries) might as well have not even had any offspring.......
I think it’s time for us, as a generation—especially in this crucial transition time of 2012-- to say “The buck stops here.”
Heartbreakingly, there is nothing we can do to go back and change Monday’s events in Chardon. NOTHING.....NADA !! ….And I think that is what angers most of us. But…the sun returns every day, life continues, and unless we want to see it continue in the direction that is hurting our hearts the most, we have work to do.
Our children need us. They need to understand our connection to each other, to Mother Earth, to the Divine. WE need to recognize these things, so that we can give them the guidance and love they deserve since it was our decision to bring them into the world.
I don’t simply mean our personal children, but the children of the world……Adopt some! Ok, I know I just scared you……I don’t mean to literally go to an adoption agency and adopt a child (though of course if you are able to, and this is a desire of your heart, by all means, please do so!)
There are all kinds of adoptions. Find a cause. An organization. Create one if you can’t find one. Take a leadership role in creating stability in kids lives.
Maybe don’t say the first anger or hate-filled comment that pops into your head. Maybe stop and think before you speak, wondering how your words or actions are affecting that child within hearing range.
If each and every person reading this right now ……and I don’t profess to have a bazillion readers, but that’s kind of my point….. Even if I only have 10 readers, and they do what I am proposing…..that’s a big deal, and it affects lives!
Find a passion that resonates with you. Involve children in its execution. Passion is a great motivator. Don’t read this and say “I don’t have that kind of money”. Volunteer for something! Give your time, your energy, your expertise. Embrace the generation coming up as though they are the children who lost their lives on Monday, and who lose their lives every day in one way or another. Embrace them all as though they are your own…..because in fact…..they are. We are all one…..all connected…..Never forget that. It is why we “Don’t ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
Many of you know of, and are even involved in our annual International Holistic Lifestyle Expo. This past Wednesday, I had the privilege of attending a small gathering of women in a friend’s home in Ashtabula. I had been trying to attend this friends’ numerous gatherings for over a year, and for one reason or another, was not able to do so. Weather conditions on Wednesday were not the greatest (I hate driving in the rain), and I almost cancelled, but I heard….loud and clear in my own head….that I was indeed meant to attend. So I listened….and subsequently the rain stopped, and it was a very pleasant drive east.
My friend doesn’t ordinarily have speakers at her women’s gatherings. The women simply have each other (and we women know what a great thing that truly is!) But this particular Wednesday, she had guest speakers from Beatitude House.
Beatitude House serves all women and children bound in the cycle of poverty and homelessness.
Through their housing, education and family support, they help them break that cycle. The create homes, provide educational opportunities, and foster healthy families. Beatitude House is constructing a new facility in Ashtabula.
After the week’s events…..after the pain and emotion of it all……I sat there and listened. I thought to myself, that there are going to be funerals and memorial services…..and then what? AND THEN WHAT ?! I swore this was not going to be one more incident that would simply be forced into the annals of local history…..that it was not going to have happened in vain…..that I was going to take an active role in helping to change children’s lives.
The International Holistic Lifestyle Expo, which coincidentally is held in Geneva, also part of Ashtabula County, is perfectly timed this year to assist in this project, and therefore has decided to “adopt” Beatitude House. They will be featured at this year’s expo, and we invite all of you to visit them there, learn what they are about, and perhaps assist them in whatever ways you are able (they have many needs).
IHLE will do all we can…..as an ongoing process….to help secure the lives of at least this handful of children and the women who are raising them. From my understanding, the Ashtabula Wellness & Total Learning Center are also taking a role in assisting Beatitude House, and just happen to be one of the expo’s sponsors. We truly are all connected…..
This is not a plug for the expo, Beatitude House, or The Wellness Center. It is meant as an example of how easily we can reach out and help each other. I challenge (no….that’s right……I don’t like that word)….I encourage all of you, to find a role in something—you decide—that will touch perhaps another “handful” of children. And so on, and so on……… You recognize the pattern well by now; it's not all about shampoo (i.e. "they told two friends, and they told two friends....")
Can we be the generation that says, “No more! It stops with me!” ?
