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A united state of division
Adam Dyer describes “A United State of Division.”
one America wants private and independent
the other wants public and shared everything
one America wants everyone to win
the other wants only to be the winner
one America is a warrior
the other a protector (spirituwellness, 3.25.19)
Robin Bartlett acknowledges that “We love to suggest that our ideological opponents don't have morals.”
I have spent the last three years trying desperately not to demonize, degrade and dehumanize my political opponents in that way. . . . I am committed to listen to understand. And today, I need help understanding from my conservative friends. . . .
Conservatives, I don't want you to vote for Democrats if that's not something you can do. . . . And I know that holding your nose and pulling the lever for someone who supports the Green New Deal and socialism and PC policing is just too much for you. I just want to know why you don't put forward BETTER CONSERVATIVE LEADERS. I need you to take a stand for your own morals and principles—not mine. WE ALL NEED YOU TO. (Facebook, 3.23.19)
Disruptions of spring
Myke Johnson, who lives in Maine, writes that “Spring is here in its northern way, with unexpected delights and disruptions.”
We do still have snow or ice over most of the yard, but each day another small patch of brown grass appears; our neighbor was already out raking in her snow-free yard. In the middle of this, two days ago, my car was rear-ended as I was driving the on-ramp toward the highway after grocery shopping in town. No one was hurt, thankfully, though my car is now in the shop waiting for the insurance bureaucracy to authorize repairs. I was able to drive it home from the scene, and take out the groceries, being careful to go through and watch for broken glass in the bags.
Still, it shook me up with the vulnerability that is life. We never know which day might be the last. (Finding Our Way Home, 3.28.19)
Doug Muder says that denying climate change is as absurd as denying that spring and summer will come.
Living in New England, I experience a number of chilly March and April days when I think, “Is spring really going to happen this year?” But I look at the sunrises and sunsets, and that fear goes away.
Similarly, but with the dread pointed in the other direction, I also sometimes look at temperature graphs and wonder if maybe global warming has leveled off without us having to make any sacrifices. But then I look at the CO2 graphs and know that these hopes are just wishful thinking. As long as atmospheric CO2 keeps rising—and it has shown no signs of stopping for a long, long time—hotter years are coming just as surely as August will be warmer than March. (The Weekly Sift, 3.25.19)
Doug also posted an early response to the little we know about the Mueller report. (The Weekly Sift, 3.25.19)
Practitioners of our traditions
Muslim UUs Ranwa Hammamy and Sana Saeed ask their sibling UUs to be more aware of the ways that they “have misappropriated and harmed the faith of our communities, families, and ancestors.”
The treatment of the Islamic traditions as something to engage only when beautiful or convenient has unfortunately also led to practices that have erased and/or ignored the presence of Unitarian Universalist Muslims. For example, for the last three years, our faith’s General Assembly has overlapped with the sacred month of Ramadan—with virtually no acknowledgment, or invitation to engage it in relationship with Muslims/Muslim Unitarian Universalists. Imagine what incredible possibilities for faith formation and justice could have come from acknowledging and centering the experience of our neighbors UUs are often saying “we love” or “are welcome here,” typically at times when those neighbors have been attacked. (Facebook, 3.23.19)
John Beckett offers suggestions for Pagans who encounter misinformation and outright prejudice.
We win by surviving—by continuing to do and be what we’re called to do and be, no matter what.
We win by being the deepest and most authentic practitioners of our traditions that we can be.
We win by being public and visible and by keeping the focus on what we are, not on what we aren’t. (Under the Ancient Oaks, 3.26.19)