I found myself in an awkward space. Over the past several years I have limited viewing of television news programs within our home. They were intruding upon the flow of serenity, impacting my ability to ‘heal’ at the end of day.

Initially, it serves as a source of update; in a few short moments, I could begin to appreciate the complexity and intensity of our global issues. Though, in time it’s presence became far too demanding – an unwelcome guest refusing to leave. Politically charged debates were superceding imminent humanitarian crises.

How could one rest knowing this need?

I wanted to be more directly engaged in these issues, providing service where needed – not distracted by the assignment of fault or growing plague of political rhetoric. And yet, here I was ironically locked within a doctor’s waiting room area – with television blasting it’s ‘daily news’.

“The president responded by Twitter…” the broadcaster began. How on earth can we relegate a growing threat of nuclear war to the confines of now 180 characters? Surely our world view must be greater than a ‘tweet’?

Yet, here we are with a Commander in Chief acting in a manner unbefitting of the office; a festering stream of consciousness now threatening the viability of peace.

And reflected on the faces of those surrounding? The pained expression of having lost all control.

Instinctively, I ‘reached for the remote’ cutting the source of it’s power. “They want us to believe there is nothing to be done,” I began. “But those willing to take action are never without power.”

The silence in that room was, at first, deafening – but then finally a woman to my left began to speak.  “My grandparents were murdered in Auschwitz. I don’t know how my father survived, but he did.”

Her words helped to open a much needed dialogue. More specifically, it begged answer to the larger question: How do we begin?

Though our circumstances may force a sense of powerlessness – we are never without resolve. Our actions provide the mechanism for change, just as the will compels our forward motion.

Yet, often in these dialogues, we are forced to take sides. But, in the end – isn’t there only just one?

“We are each other’s harvest,” author Gwendolyn Brookes writes. I couldn’t imagine a more appropriate expression of our obligation.

A little something to consider, my friends.

In peace…

Namaste ❣️