I have a 'love-hate' relationship with "humanity"... With my own, with our collective human-ness.
I distinctly remember a moment when I was about 20, sitting on a big boulder on the eastern coast of Washington Island, WI with Angela Ritchie. With eyes welling up, I said, "Do I really have to do this for 100 years?"
Sometimes the earth feels foreign.
Sometimes I can't decide if we're, "born alone, die alone" or if we're truly "in this together". There are events in the world that display the human ability to get completely lost, resulting in inconceivable behaviors. In the face of these events, I don't want to claim this human race as my own.
When the anger wears off, I am reminded this human race is my own, whether I want it or not. We can't shake the human off of us, we can't wash it away- the fear, the struggle, the hard work, the anxiety, the shame and embarrassment, the physicality that can't always stay healthy. {Believe me, I'm disappointed too.} Sometimes I can cycle around in how disappointing this reality is.
I want to cleanse the body that carries this soul.
All I can do is try.
When I'm too tired and torn, maybe it's not the time. I'm learning patience that I can work on it again 'later'.
Have grace, for yourself and for others.
I have not lost faith that everyone else is trying, too. Some are more lost than others, and it may not "look" like they're trying.
Give grace. These humans are ours, whether we like it or not. This is the challenge we've each been given. Namaste: "the light in me honors the light in you."
Comments