8/9/2020 "Just one of the species"
Just a short message this week, as we all take stock of the energies we will need to prepare for our upcoming decisions. All decisions are tinged with implications for safety in this pandemic reality: school, work, providing for our families, taking care of our homes and loved ones. We experience a profound shift in the everyday behaviors that we might have taken for granted before we heard the word "covid." (This shift lands differently depending on our relative privilege; I have my own blind spots about my privilege, and welcome them being drawn to my attention.)
We might also have taken our stories, the narratives we use to guide our lives, for granted. I have noticed, this last week or so, many references to "both sides of the story." And, I have noticed my growing impatience with that construction, with its implication that there are only two perspectives, its invitation to take a side as our "home" and gaze across to the other side as a kind of noble act of generosity or critical thinking.
What if we demanded a different paradigm: not "two sides to every story," but "multiple stories on all sides"? What if we approached the tough decisions ahead with curiosity about the many stories that can guide us? What if we listened to the stories that guide others, with the same curiosity? What if we rejected the binary, and embraced a multifaceted vision of ourselves and one another?
The "two sides" construction (in politics, economics, gender, etc.) might be leading us astray. I am relatively confident that there are more than "two sides" to me, and even more confident that there are more than two ways to view our complex, beautiful, tragic, glorious human community.
Listening to an interview with Jane Goodall this morning, my ear caught two of her comments:
"We're just one of the species."
"We are all beyond all else, human beings."
These insights lead us into curiosity about that complexity, about how we are one of many species, and all we hold in common with fellow humans as well as all creatures on this planet. It's a delightful conversation, and I highly recommend a read/listen if you have the time: https://onbeing.org/programs/jane-goodall-on-what-it-means-to-be-human/
I hope you are all well, and as always, I am deeply grateful for your company on this journey.
Liz