We overuse the word "share" and undermine its most powerful meaning. Sharing has always been about giving something up that belongs to you, taking a piece from your whole and distributing it to others.
When we were young, being a good sharer meant letting the other kid play with your toys. As we got older it meant opening up emotionally. And when we started working it took on a slightly different cast and connoted being part of an accountable group.
Sadly, in the digital world, it means nothing more than a click or two that sends a photo or video or some written thing to others in the hope of a returned click that delivers a "like".
Sharing in the digital world has replaced the piece of the whole, the emotional openness and certainly accountability. We have seen the consequences of mistaking the click for a vote, of confusing the share button with action.
Yet when we talk, when we really share, it seems that fear has become a primary subject. Maybe it's because we want to divide it up a little, spread it around, and join together so it's not so paralyzing because of the dread and apprehension it can cause. Or maybe it's because we actually want to take action and end the fear by ending its cause. To combat it in a primal and powerful way.
As I read, watch and listen to the news, I am saddened, troubled and pained by the hatred, the killing, the hunger, the disease and, maybe most of all, by the indifference.
Some of us are about to celebrate Christmas, others Chanukah, but even if these are not your celebrations, we can all share in the one common symbol that both holidays represent and that is light...the illuminating light of freedom and peace.
Candles are symbolic, in both holidays, of holding darkness at bay and both holidays are, in fact, at their core about sharing that message in the most human way possible.
The beauty of sharing the light from a single candle cannot be equaled...listen:
Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. -Buddha
Lighting real or metaphoric candles has never been more important, and sharing that light can #changetheworld in powerful and permanent ways.
I wish all of you, whatever you celebrate or don't, the special and mighty happiness that comes from true sharing and I hope that you will find a candle to light yourself and use it to light many more.
In the beautiful words of Peter, Paul and Mary...listen:
Light one candle for the strength we all need
To never become our own foe!
And light one candle for those who are suff'ring
Pain we learned so long ago!
Light one candle for all we believe in,
Let anger not tear us apart!
And light one candle to bind us together
With peace as the song in our heart!
Don't let the light go out!
It's lasted for so many years!
Don't let the light go out!
Let it shine through our love and our tears.
What is the memory that's valued so highly
That we keep it alive in that flame?
What's the commitment to those who have died
When we cry out they've not died in vain,
We have come this far, always believing
That justice will somehow prevail!
This is the burning. This is the promise,
This why we will not fail!
Don't let the light go out!
It's lasted for so many years!
Don't let the light go out!
Let it shine through our love and our tears
And keep that flame going in the New Year.
My very best.
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