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A stream of love for all beings
As she watched the devastation Dorian created in the Bahamas, Beth Johnson wrote a prayer for all those of us gasping for breath at the daily onslaught of news.
May we who are, for now, safe from harm, use our breath to speak words of support and call for aid, and to fuel our bodies to act as we can when the time comes to mitigate the suffering. And may we act on behalf of our earth, groaning from the harm we have caused. May we see/feel our interconnectedness profoundly and allow our grief and pain to move through us as stream of love for all beings. (Facebook, September 3)
Joanna Fontaine Crawford’s brother lives in the part of the Bahamas hardest hit by the hurricane; she spent anxious days waiting for word from him.
I have seen my brother’s face. He has survived a Category 5 hurricane, and 5 days later, I have seen a video with his face. Throughout this week, I have metaphorically huddled with our family, our mutual friends, and people connected to his neighbors, as we all wept and worried and hoped together. Because of Facebook.
It’s a tool. We get to decide how to use it. I will be giving thought to not being careless, to using it mindfully and in service to building relationships.
But this week, it was a lifeline. (Facebook, September 6)
Swimming in the same ocean
Hundreds of miles north of the Bahamas, Myke Johnson found joy in the waves of the same ocean.
I wish I could share with you the happiness of being in the ocean, of walking on the shore finding sea glass, of reading on the beach on a September evening, of finding a monarch on a milkweed.
But the happiness was triggered by actually being in the ocean with its waves dancing me up and down. So if you are feeling timid about walking into the waves, whether literal or metaphorical, please know that on the other side little miracles might happen. Joy might find you. (Finding Our Way Home, September 12)
How to work the system
Dawn Cooley recognizes that she knows how to work the system on behalf of her children, more than her parents did for her.
I sometimes hear people claim that “we all start off at the same starting line” in life. But that isn’t true. In any way. Some of us get a leg up thanks to the experiences of our parents, or their parents, or even generations of ancestors who passed things down to us: finances, expectations, or even just knowing how to work the system for our benefit. And these are all priceless inheritances that one not everyone starts off with. (Speaking of, September 9)
Carl Gregg imagines a world in which more of us do less “alienated labor.”
Working toward a society in which 35 hours, 30 hours, or even 15-20 hours/week of labor is considered full-time employment worthy of full benefits and a living wage may seem like an unrealistic goal, but Labor Day is a reminder that at one time, achieving a 40-hour work week was considered unrealistic. If you are grateful for the weekend, thank a labor organizer. If you want to create further support for worker’s rights, support the labor movement. (Carl Gregg, September 11)
As he read Democratic candidates’ comments about climate change, Doug Muder discovered that it shed light on what he’s looking for in a candidate.
President GoodClimate. . . . needs to have:
- a vision
- a plan that carries out the vision
- a message to rally the public behind the vision and the plan
- the ability to leverage the vision, plan, and public support to push Congress to pass the needed legislation and appropriate the needed money
- the ability to use the gravity of the crisis, the example of U.S. action, and U.S. soft power to push other nations into action.
Jumping each hurdle requires a different skill-set; we need a president who can jump them all. (The Weekly Sift, September 9)