Into Action
In a culture that pushes us to focus not on what we can give, but on what we can take,
what we tend to take is everything for granted.
-Andrea Gibson-
It is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken.
-Audre Lorde-
These two quotes from women of the modern era were the Word for the Day on Grateful Living yesterday and today. They spoke to me and said do some writing here. Don’t turn away and stop reading because “taking things for granted” leaves you feeling a little guilty and spoiled. Me too. I am deeply blessed. I have made a habit out of looking for gratefulness and developing a perspective and mindset of living gratefully, and I continue to take much for granted on a regular basis. It’s human nature. Once our most significant needs are met—food, water, clothing, and shelter—we really move on to the bonuses of living in a developed nation.
The closest I have come to worrying about being without any of these necessities are times like feeling hungry and knowing it may be an hour or two before I have time to eat, being thirsty on a hot summer run and being a mile from home, not being able to find the right outfit to wear, and wishing our house had a second full bathroom.
This is my right foot on a step in our house’s entryway this morning. I see many things I take for granted pretty frequently. What do you see?
When I drop the guilt and this sense of how spoiled I am, all of these things I just listed start to look and feel different. I treat them and myself with more respect and I spend more time and energy trying to add healing and love to the world, and less time acquiring more stuff I really don’t need.
Silence as immobilizer. The silence driven by fear of the unknown or concern about what someone else’s differences will challenge in our own hearts and minds. In a culture that has gotten very loud on social media platforms, many people have either gotten louder, or gone quiet.
But we don’t exist on social media platforms. Only words do.
How do I exist in my day-to-day interactions with others? Are there silences I should break in my many connections with others in my family, job, community? Are there societal silences I need to challenge and embrace in the ways I can?
These quotes asked me to write. I did. Now, I will seek how to go beyond the words and into action. Please join me from where you are. Our healing energies will go out into a hurting, sometimes hateful world, and make a little difference. It’s a start. It’s a really good start today.
