What are you really searching for, wanting to happen, waiting for? That’s what I want to know. What are you waiting for? Why are you waiting for anything or anyone? Are you looking for security, assurance, a sure thing? Do you expect that someone else will make you whole? Well, that’s not happening. No one can make you whole but you.

Here’s what I’ve been thinking…we need to change the way we look at each other. We need to learn to respect and accept each other…our diversity and our uniqueness. We need to see the value in every living being. We need to notice when the other is suffering and recognize that our wholeness is linked to their wholeness.

Removing statues and the confederate flag, renaming parks, sports teams, bands and military bases…well, if that’s all we do, it’s a waste of time. It might make us feel good for a while…probably a short while. It makes others angry, maybe for a while longer. But these are not the cause of discord, racism, disrespect, hate or injustice. The billionaires and millionaires and world leaders are laughing at our focus on these ‘little’ things, as they continue their march in the same old boots.

Brothers and sisters, we gotta work on relieving the pain. We gotta work on making the whole healthy. Every decision we make must address the health of the whole. Not just what is good for me or for some, but what works best for everybody. What lifts all people.

We make the whole healthy by addressing oppression, hate and inequality not with right vs wrong…we have been working that angle and haven’t seen a lasting result. We solve it with understanding and meaningful communication from all sides. We solve it by facing our fears and understanding our common desires. This is the work we have been avoiding. It is time we step up and listen up.

Imagine, if everyone, for one day, listened to understand or walked in another’s shoes. I am convinced this would literally change the world. And the statues would fall automatically and the names representing fear and oppression and bigotry would fade away. And the whole would feel itself once again.

Have a listen to this prayer sung by Sarah McLachlan. Let it be a reminder of how the world really works.

With much hope
Paula