Alice did not know what she would find when she plunged into the rabbit hole. But she knew she was following something – something alluring and captivating that she was compelled to investigate.
Love comes in unexpected forms.
Perhaps it is time for me to find new rabbit holes for burrowing. Conceivably, I might discover a fresh lair that leads to my heart’s desire, my life’s purpose where minds, hearts and hands join together to change the world.
Too fairy-tale-like for you? I give you that. But I defend my right, as a known Pollyanna, to slip improbable wishes into the folds of my soul and let them dance unfettered in my dreams.
Throughout time, people have been searching for the magical elixir that will permeate the ever-changing, growing and deepening maze of empty rabbit holes that, when filled, will lock the whole world together in solidarity.
Is love the answer? There is a high probability of that. We are gifted with many types of love,
The love of a parent for a child can change a grown man into a wash rag. Each day you inhale the instances of smiles, whimpers, victories and suffer the heartaches that both sadden you and strengthen the bond of parent and child. What is not possible within the breadth of that love?
You don’t need to search far to flush out love in any family. Love appears in the words, actions, respect and honor extended to the rights of other family members – even if you disagree with their choices. Families work together to engender a selfless love and extend sincere, no-strings-attached forgiveness to each family member.
Whether true love blooms or fades is the purview of both people in a relationship. To build a bond strong enough to last a life time, each partner must show his vulnerable side. Trust that can only be achieved through honesty, is the extraordinary measure of the love between two people.
True love is structured on respecting your mate as a distinctive, autonomous individual. Love will bloom when we stay connected with that part of ourselves that desires physical contact and joyfully gives and receives affection. Such love is not domineering, not calculating and not menacing.
Brotherly love is feelings of humanity and compassion toward one’s fellow humans, an extension of the natural affection associated with near kin, toward the greater community of fellow believers. In Leviticus 19:18, it is said Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
This is where we have faltered.
Simplistically, a neighbor is a person who lives near another. Looking a little deeper, it refers to one’s fellow human being. Neither definition encompasses the complexity, diversity, injustice, estrangement, outrage, animosity and furor that has alienated neighbors in the modern world.
One word that comes close is racism.
Racism, whether it is intentional or unintentional is a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on the social interpretation of how one looks, that unfairly disadvantages some individuals and communities, unfairly advantages other individuals and communities, and saps the strength of the whole society through the waste of human resources.” — APHA Past-President Camara Phyllis Jones, MD, MPH, PhD
The COVID-19 pandemic clearly emphasized that overall health status is heavily influenced by socioeconomic factors. Appallingly, these health disparities are the product of years of intentional disinvestment in communities, including lack of access to basic services, jobs that paid less than a living wage, shortage of affordable quality housing, unavailability of education and health care.
These basic needs were shrouded by a system that allots value, structures and opportunity based on the color of a person’s skin. Less likely to be discussed openly, is the propensity for whites to take their privileges for granted. They hear the tune but not the lyrics.
Accordingly, many whites are reluctant to give up and share their privileges with their brothers and sisters of color. It is problematic for people to acknowledge the damage created by systems from which they personally benefit.
The outcome of failing to acknowledge or understand the inevitable systemic disadvantage created by turning a blind eye to prejudice and injustice is to negate the rights belonging to all human beings to choose a seat at the table of opportunity.
Knowledge is empowering. Once you grasp the injustice of racism and the wrong of classifying an entire category of human being as second-class citizenship, how can you not choose to act? There is no alternative but to squarely face the past .
Brotherly love encourages a healing, heart-centered approach to extinguish the false belief that any people are superior to others based on their skin color. To achieve social justice, equity and equality, we must commit to collaboration with people of color, rather than to cast them as others.
Fostering openness and transparency nurtures mutual trust and allows, even in a society as polarized as today’s United States, new opportunities for shared action to blossom.
As we endure this pandemic, our collective notion of what is possible has already changed, forcing us to revise the very concept of change. Once the start button is pressed, change is hard to stop. At its best, it expands fervently, gulping new ideas, prying open closed minds, facilitating leadership and cultivating mutual trust. Such a bold journey is only sustainable if there is a single-mindedness empowered with clear accountability and propelled by diversity.
The truth must be told, lies debunked, misconceptions corrected, misinformation repressed and hate obscured by love. Fabrications lie to us about what we need to be happy.
When we express a viewpoint and listen openly to other perceptions, minds expand and hearts swell with new hope. While one novel idea is valuable, the impact of many diverse, analytical and innovative voices contributing in a spirit of cooperation, embolden exponential growth.
One thing is clear—to have any hope of crushing racism in a society where mutual trust appears to be profoundly broken, you need a critical mass of citizens who are willing and able to participate.
Americans, battered by intensifying polarization in politics and cultural façades, are hungry for the truth. Whether the battle stems from disinformation or hostile attack by a virus run amok, the end result is cynicism, loss of faith and distrust in the government’s rhetoric that they are acting in the best interest of every citizen.
In reality there has been no vision. We must implement changes in America that will guarantee our country is truly of, by and for the people. Politicians refuse to visualize a future that is not a game of King of the Hill, where the winning move is to reach the coveted gold-encrusted top and look down on the carnage of broken promises, defeated human beings, flattened dreams and twisted hopes.
It’s clear that the nation’s leadership has failed in its duty to protect us. They have forgotten that public trust is imperative in governance and that trust depends on telling the truth. In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
The obstacles to success can sometimes appear overwhelming. Apathy sets in and passions fade, causing the movement to diminish and wither before real change is achieved, a possible result of inflexible white complacency.
Politics and polarization are increasingly formidable enemies, powered by partisanship, false information, self-centered actions and the unblinking focus on winning elections. As the pandemic continues to accelerate in the U.S., increased societal fear of becoming sick and state-led clampdowns breed distress and elevate distrust.
We have been living for many decades in what Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci called a time of monsters. His quote expresses what we are coming to understand, the crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.
After all we have been through, nothing seems normal and everything appears fragile, yet astonishingly worth saving.
I wish I could say that we are all in this together, but there is still much to do. There can be no privileges without responsibilities. There can be little progress until we believe that we are bound together by destiny. There can be little hope unless freedom is equally shared. There can be no pride in who we are unless we change the conversation that only asks what’s in it for me?
Celebrate the love you have. Love is the weapon that slays dragons. It is the prize for our transformation. Let brotherly love be the new hope.
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable…
Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
thought provoking