I am feeling the impact of the pandemic very strongly. I am frustrated with the lack of willingness to recalibrate in our society. We want to just pick back up where we left off which is impossible! We have experienced a traumatic event. A million people are dead. Suicide is spiking, over the counter pain medications are being misused. We need to stop and regain our footing. We need to take a moment to refill our souls and heal but our leaders do not see the value of a peaceful, thoughtful reconnection plan. Our economic driven society is saying, ‘get back to work’ as if work heals. It doesn’t. We need to have time to digest what we have gone through.
The trauma of a pandemic should be sufficient to engender contemplation about the value of life but our nation continues to experience senseless violence. When I started this blog several weeks ago, there were two mass shootings; one in Buffalo, New York https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/18/us/buffalo-supermarket-shooting-wednesday/index.html and a second in Laguna Woods, California https://abc7.com/church-shooting-laguna-woods-orange-county-court/11860789/ both have been identified as hate crimes. Last year the FBI noted a surge in such crimes, to the highest levels in over a decade. https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/30/us/fbi-report-hate-crimes-rose-2020/index.html. This weekend there were dozens of mass shootings. There are a lot of hurting people. Hurting people, hurt people. We cannot keep living on the planet with such a reckless disregard for one another. Human beings are the only species who hunt when they are not hungry.
It is very easy to be sad and discouraged but I fight against this mindset. My faith gives me hope and fills me with love and gratitude. I cannot surrender to the ‘dark side’. We have the opportunity to emerge from this pandemic a better version of ourselves. Let’s do it. I am hopeful and looking forward to the future.
Emerging a better person
but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Gen 4:5
I look around my village and see caring, loving people who support one another, whose purpose is to live in peace. It is such a beautiful sight. We must all awaken to this. We are one family of human beings. We are not different. We are not enemies. God doesn’t like any of us better than anyone else. He loves us equally. There is a Bible story about two brothers Cain and Able. Cain killed Abel out of jealousy; he felt God loved his brother more than him. Why would he see killing as a solution? I believe that he didn’t know who he was, his divine purpose; why he was as special as Abel. So his resolution was to destroy the awakened one. We see this throughout history, the assignation of Martin Luther King Jr., John F Kennedy, and Robert Kennedy, among many others, were examples. The empty soul is filled with fear and doesn’t have the courage to do the hard work needed to find their own value. We each must do it, we can do this!
Have Faith in the Future
I am reading a book written by Nona Jones entitled, Success From The Inside Out’. She writes,
You are a work of art, crafted by the greatest artist in the history of the universe. He created time, the heavens, the earth, every kingdom, genus, and species known and the unknown to humanity. And he created you. Uniquely. You are a one-of-a-kind priceless treasure, but past pain can deceive you into basing your worth on the perceived value of another work of art that’s scrolling by in your Instagram feed or working across from your cubicle. Since there isn’t anyone else on this earth like you, comparing yourself with other people is like comparing the north to the south or the east to the west. They each serve a directional purpose but none is “better” than the others. No one would say, ‘If I had my choice, I would only drive south.’ Your only competition is the person staring back at you in the mirror each day. Only one person is ahead of you in the race of life-the person God created you to be. Catching up requires no longer looking around to see what others are doing. It’s just you versus you. And personal progress is about making sure you win every time.”
I am so inspired by these words. I share them with joy. I have been entrusted with a purpose to imprint this world with myself. I have no duplicate. My only challenge is to see who I am divinely designed to become and to run towards that girl with haste to become her. Why would I want to look backward to regain the person who I was yesterday when I am looking forward at the “phenomenal woman” (Maya Angelou) I am becoming? I don’t want to ‘get back to normal’. Let’s take one step forward and start to create a better world.’
Olive Leaf Beginnings Blog 