I sat down to write my about my Friday favorites and I just couldn’t do it and feel good about it. I haven’t been able to get last night’s events in Nice off my mind all day today. I read the CNN coverage and it was horrific. I’m like, “Really? Again? How? Why?” Paris, San Bernardino, Orlando, Istanbul, Dallas, Nice…
And then I watched my friend Leslie Ann‘s Facebook live broadcast about a instance of racism she encountered this morning on her daily Starbucks run and it left me in tears.
Most of the time I think to myself that it’s best to stay away from commentary on current events, politics, religion, etc on my blog but I do feel strongly about writing on things like personal growth, choosing love, being kind and becoming the most loving, bright, self-actualized version of yourself.
If you don’t watch Leslie Ann’s video, the summary is that two white people made racial slurs to a young black woman during some sort of altercation while everyone in Starbucks continued to look at their phones, read the paper and pretend it wasn’t happening. Leslie Ann and a few others followed the girl, who was crying, out to her car and provided comfort and kind words.
This world is broken. There is so much hatred and judgment and intolerance. Trust me, I know it’s overwhelming to think about. And I’m sure you’re with me in wondering, “How can I make a difference?” But we can’t get numb and we can’t turn our backs. We must continue on as warriors for peace and love by being living examples of it every single day of our lives.
I’m not encouraging us all to sit around and cry this weekend. I’ve had a good week and overall I feel very happy but this state of things makes me very sad on another level. I love this quote from Wayne Dyer and when I start to feel helpless I think of it and remember that we’re intended to feel good.
“People say how can they feel good when there is so much bad going around? With so many people out there who are being mean to each other. My sister-in-law has cancer. Soldiers are dying from explosions; my response to that is you can’t feel bad enough to make someone else’s life better. You can’t get confused enough to un-confuse one person. You can’t get sick enough to heal one person out there so anytime you are feeling anything other than the good or God, what you are doing is contributing to rather than encouraging others to reconnect to their source.”
What I am saying is that we have to stand up for each other and love each other. We have to be awake and aware of how we are living our lives and how we are treating others. Are we walking examples of love, courage, compassion, acceptance and peace? Are we taking a stand for our values and beliefs?
Last weekend in my Saturday morning class we chanted the Om Shanti Mantra for a minute to begin and end class. And we’ll be doing it again tomorrow.
Sending you all love. Om shanti peace.
