I awakened to articles about NBC's "Commander-in-Chief Forum," and my heart shriveled and my outrage rose. I wanted to write a letter to NBC protesting Matt Lauer's bias as a moderator, constantly interrupting Hilary while lobbing softball questions to Trump.
Then I watched a video of puppies and my ire dampened.
Then I read a bunch of FaceBook posts about the besieged Standing Rock Tribe. Read the list of financial institutions funding the Bakken pipeline and wanted to call all my friends to tell them to pull their funds from Bank of America, Chase, Citizens and US Bank. I wanted to get on a horse and ride to North Dakota. I wanted to call up Indian Country Today - the national Native American newspaper I used to write for and say, "Hey. Need a white freelancer on the ground up there?" Probably not.
Next I watched a little baby get glasses and see his mother for the very first time. And my heart melted at the smile that blossomed on his chubby little face as his muddy chaotic world came clear.
And suddenly something else came clear: I had about as much clarity on my world as that baby boy, fumbling his way through life.
Like that baby I lived in a confused, jumbled reality where it was impossible to see clearly because my easily-swayed emotions were constantly jarring my mind to and fro, distorting the view.
Like that baby I didn't know my outlook was muddled. Like that baby I considered my frothed-up view as "normal." To what, after all, could either of us compare our worlds?"
When life is made of fuzzy images, that's all you've got. When "reality" is based on news that is little more than emotion-driving rhetoric, that's all you've got. When social media is a frenzy of emotion-laden opinions, that's all you've got. When outrage and bias and opinion and conflict rule the day, that's all you've got.
Fuzzy images--a maelstrom of surging feel good/feel bad/feel complacent/feel outrage moments loosely connected as we jounce from one stimulus-response situation to the next.
And suddenly one other thing came crystal clear: THAT was not a good way to live and do well.
So I searched through the rubble of my emotions, drained away the muddy waters of the "news," clicked out of FB, squared my shoulders and determined to find one overarching thing that made sense. After a few moments of deep breathing and reflection, this is what surfaced:
Beneath the tumultuous sea of events, differing opinions and strident voices shouting to be heard there is one steady heartbeat drumming ... the ONENESS of all life showing up as this multihued rainbow of multiplicity on a shakedown cruise to find itself.
There is one common thread that joins all races and ethnicities: Our humanity. There is one common need: physical security. There is one common goal: the wellbeing of our offspring. There is one universal ingrained desire: love. There is one global hope: peace.
We are far more united than we realize. And we don't need the spiritual teachings of mystics and the discoveries of quantum physics to show us this. We just need a moment ... one moment of calm, inner reflection ... one moment of stillness unaccompanied by razzmatazz ... one steady breath not drenched in emotion ... one dive deep within our own being ... for common sense and the steadiness of the obvious truths about humanity's oneness to take hold.
We are in the midst of watching humanity awakening to what it is and is not true: what is and is not valuable; what is and is not sustainable; what is and is not worth a moment's thought.
Shout or drum, take sides or come to the middle ground as ONE ... either way the song will go on. In the process our oneness may be temporarily obscured. But that doesn't alter the fact one bit.