Hold real strength
Our real strength, after all, comes from our relationships: to ourselves, to one another, to our beautiful blue planet. Nurture it. We will need every scrap of it as we move forward.
Well, my dear ones. We are weathering so much. We watched, aghast, as the People’s House - Congress - was overrun by people intent on overthrowing the results of a free and fair election. While they attacked from without, members of Congress attacked from within, challenging election results certified by the States: the same results, it must be noted, that voted many of them into the offices they used to object to the fairness of the election.
And, many of the same Congress members who worked hard to orchestrate this undermining of the rights of the States to certify their election results, have stood aside as the pandemic ravages, taking lives and disrupting economies across this land.
We find ourselves in a precarious moment. The attacks on our democratic processes were violent and vigorous. But let us not, even for a moment, be seduced into believing that this kind of violence is true strength. It is not.
We need to be willing to look, unflinchingly, at the conditions that have made too many of our fellow humans susceptible to the false stories of a stolen election, too many willing to take up violence as their response. But we must also distinguish these actions from real strength.
Real strength welcomes increased participation in democratic decision-making. Real strength offers deep listening, seeks understanding, extends compassion. Real strength welcomes accountability.
Real strength kneels on athletic fields even under withering criticism and loss of employment. Real strength insists on the power of nonviolent movements for change. Real strength speaks truth, even when truth is frightening, difficult, unpopular. Real strength takes to the streets to protect justice for the vulnerable, not to protect power for the corrupt.
Every family member who has said farewell to a loved one lost to this pandemic, shows real strength. Every person who has worn a mask all day in order to stay at work, who has washed their hands raw, who has stayed six or more feet away from others, who has sacrificed so much normal interaction and held their friends and neighbors with enough respect to keep them safe, shows real strength. Every person who has cared for the sick with or without adequate personal protective equipment shows real strength. Every person who rings up groceries, delivers food, volunteers to keep a roof over the heads of those who would otherwise be unsheltered, shows real strength. Every person who has spoken words of love and encouragement to others, lifting them up regardless of superficial differences, shows real strength.
I am certain that at least one of the examples of real strength in this message applies to you, who are reading it. Hold your real strength, and those of others, in sacred trust. Do not squander it in fear or favor. Draw more of it from one another. This is one intention for this newsletter, throughout 2021: to be a source of real strength.
Our real strength, after all, comes from our relationships: to ourselves, to one another, to our beautiful blue planet. Nurture it. We will need every scrap of it as we move forward.