Photo by Alexander Abero on Unsplash
To answer Catcher's question on what we can do, a few suggestions:
Resources for non-Black folks to support Black communities in Canada
25 Ways to Make a Difference in the World Every Day
Nine things you can do today to make a difference
51 Ways to Make a Difference in the World
In summary, I firmly believe compassion and love is the way forward. Taking action from a place of love for life will be more sustainable and longer-lasting than coming from a place of anger or despair. Love yourself until you are overflowing with love. That love will ripple out to others. And from that place of love and compassion, true and lasting change will come to our world.
As I published this, I had an email come in that really encapsulated what I was trying to say. To quote Jarrad Hewett:
To move forward as a collective and as individuals, there is still a great healing to occur - new choices, new energies, new expressions and a new experience of freedom.
There is always potential and everyone has to choose. Individually is where it begins. It begins with each and every person on this planet being willing to love, to listen, to hear, even when it is painful: it is time we honor and value each other...
What we are seeing play out is also a reflection of not just external judgment and hatred, but of internal judgment and hatred.
I ask all to hold an intent and focus for the highest outcome of love to unfold across this globe - and that peace and love opens the hearts of all.
In moments where we see fear and chaos, it can seem daunting. Yet, think of how a child learns to walk: they often fall and get hurt. Right now, we are learning who we are - we are being presented with opportunity after opportunity to examine our ways of life, inside and out.
Racism, separation, segregation, and violence, have been woven into America's history, and indeed the history of the planet as it has been written over the last few thousand years. By creating "less than" we allow ourselves to feel "more than" and a long chain of "otherness" unfolds throughout time.
When these energies comes up, they press deep wounds. These wounds are not just from this life but a lifetime of collective history, where fear has created a cycle of hierarchies, patriarchies, and castes.
Until we truly learn from history, it will repeat itself.
Right now, we are being asked to examine who we have been, who we are, and who we are to become...it is up to those with power to utilize it for those without, as way showers, as allies and friends, as collective humans. As individuals, we are being asked to truly open up, learn, and love.
Let us come together. It is time...
Love is the Answer.
You are seen. You are heard. You are loved.
