Today is too full for me. It seems to me that the day has too much anger and sorrow. It is as if these are elements that need to be bled out. Maybe we need time to scream and cry and yell before we heal. We are humans after all, and each one of our days is filled fears, hopes, and dreams. Every day we bury ourselves in a sheet, an artificial covering to be acceptable society. Maybe society needs to have to watch while we let our ugly sides show, but then we need to look for common ground.
It seems to me that we are looking more for the things that divide us than the things that unite us. Trenches are being dug where there were only lines in the sand before. There are worlds of common ground but instead, we look to see who is on which side of the fence. Worlds of grey are now black and white. It reminded me of Robert Frost's poem, The Mending Wall. There are two neighbors who set about to mend the wall that runs betwixt their properties. One neighbor is convinced that the wall is there to help them maintain boundaries. The other wonders what he may be walling out or in. As I look around my world it is not my world that I see but instead it is all of the many hearts that touch mine. They all add to my world and I have little without them.
When I listen to the news most of what I hear is simply the struggle of people trying to help, not just themselves but humanity. Opposing forces are often striving for the same goal they simply look at the path differently. Both sides have proven that they can do amazing things just think of the amazing things that can be done when both sides work together.
I am missing the calm voice that says, it's time to stop pointing fingers, it's time to quit casting blame, it's time to quit calling names. Instead, it is time to talk, to share fears, hopes, and dreams, because when you see someone else's dream you see their heart and you know how close they are to you. I haven't seen much of that voice but I can whisper with the best of them, and my theory is sometimes people pay more attention to the quiet whisper than the booming rally cry. If you believe that fences make good neighbors, will you forgive me if I use my small footstool to look over the fence and wish you well?
"There's a tendency in politics to attribute bad motivation much too quickly, and the sooner you attribute bad motivation to someone you disagree with, the harder it is to find some common ground to make some progress that would give people confidence that you got it more right than wrong." ~ Peter Welch ~
