What a difference a month makes.
In my last post, I said … So it is with fear for our democracy and what, if anything, will be left of it for our grand and great-grandchildren, that I say it is time for me, for you, for every last one of us, to get off our individual and collective fences and work hard together, if we are to keep the dream alive. And what dream is it, exactly, that we are trying to keep alive?
Because we never know what is just around the corner … or how it’s going to come at us, we tend to cling to what we think we know to be the truth. We hold our breath, dig in our heels and in our determination to not give up and not give in, we keep ourselves from giving way. As Americans, we got to watch this happen, so poignantly, as July reached its conclusion.
And then … as can sometimes happen, perhaps with luck or divine intervention or serendipity, or a little help from our friends, something gives way, and we are miraculously able to hear other truths … to courageously release the breath that has been strangling us, and to let go into one of the very few things we know to be inescapable in this life … change.
As it happens, I have been doing some “succession planning” myself in a couple of areas where I have been firmly attached and considered a linchpin for way too long. It has not been easy. I can only imagine what it must have been like for the President.
But there he was … presidential, gracious, and honorable as he knows how to be, not only stepping aside but wholeheartedly endorsing Kamala Harrs as the Democratic nominee for President.
And there she is … poised and ready to become not only the first woman to sit behind that Resolute desk in the Oval Office, but the one candidate who brings with her to the road ahead a much-needed dose of humanity, humility and Joy. With Tim Walz as her running mate, the road looks even wider with room for lots of dancing and singing along the way. It makes me happy that Keb Mo’s “Put A Woman In Charge” is finally getting the play it deserves.
And there we go … off and running with a kind of hopeful exuberance many of has haven’t felt in a long time. What can I say? I feel more playful as the days go on and having just received this new version of “Memory” from the Cats musical, I couldn’t resist sharing it with you.
Soooo ….. this seems like a good stopping place for today, but not without a hint about what’s coming next … a review of my conversations with three delightful and insightful young women, Jane, Adriana, and Kaylena, GenZ friends since high school, now on three different paths. There will also be some reflections about the “Speaking of Gender” July 28th Sunday Service I was honored to help prepare. If you’d like, you can watch it here.
But let’s not leave without a poem. I love this one by William Stafford because back in the day when I was trying to figure out my relationship with poetry, this poem explained it.
Poetry
Its door opens near. It’s a shrine
by the road. It’s a flower in the parking lot
of the Pentagon. It says, “Look around,
listen. Feel the air.” It interrupts
international telephone lines with a tune.
When traffic lines jam, it gets out
and dances on the bridge. If great people
are distracted by fame they forget
this essential kind of breathing
and they die inside their gold shell.
When caravans cross deserts
it is the secret treasure hidden under the jewels.Sometimes commanders take us over, and they
try to impose their whole universe,
how to succeed by daily calculation:
I can’t eat that bread.
Until next time, Dear Friends and Joyous Warriors, do make time to sing and dance a little every day.
Sending Love,
Sulima
