Why Compassion is Key in Healing Racism
I usually stay out of political discussions because I like to "keep the peace".
But for some reason I just watched this video and it touched my heart in an uncomfortable way. Usually I might stop watching and turn my attention to something more joyful. Bag of kittens anyone? But part of what I've been practicing for the last several years is holding space for individual and collective healing and transformation, and I'm compelled to look. To not turn away today. And to share.
Because I can't figure out how to embed it, you can watch the short video here.
I imagined the response I might get from some people if I shared it. I imagined getting insulted, picked fights with, maybe even unfriended by friends or acquaintances who lean republican... It's a super scary proposition to really be vulnerable enough to share my thoughts and feelings so publicly around such a catalytic topic.
But the way I see it, it's NOT ACTUALLY POLITICAL. This video is simply taking a look at statistics of what is actually happening. It's also not calling names or bashing the president or any of that. I watched it twice just to make sure that I wasn't mistaken in my original assessment.
It's simply reporting some (hard to watch) stuff that's been happening in our country lately, between people and more people.
What I see is that behavioral patterns and attitudes that have ALWAYS been around, but not super visible, just under the surface, are coming up to be SEEN, MET, HEALED, & TRANSFORMED.
When Trump got elected and half of the country panicked/got depressed, while the other half celebrated wildly, my heart and intuition told me that it was actually perfect. Perfect to have someone so disruptive in office, because as a country now we would start breaking things. Breaking systems that don't really work that usually just get patched over and patched over and jimmy-rigged until they look like the Weasley's house (metaphorically). Because things need to be razed before they can be built differently. They need to be taken apart before we can create NEW things that actually function differently. And that's really the core of what WE ALL want.
This includes social structures like health care, but also intrapersonal & cultural structures like how we as humans relate to other humans.
Now I'm certainly not condoning bad behavior, but before we can shift something we HAVE TO be willing to notice it, look it in the face, and be with it. Forgive that it has happened and forgive ourselves for whatever part we've played, in order to create a new reality, instead of just patching up the old one.
Expanding our capacity to be with what's in front of us. Compassion. That is the practice. "Fighting" racism (or any -ism) only escalates it. You've got to reinvent from a brand new place, not just from pushing against what's already there.
I see you. And because I'm also a human I share EVERY capacity that you've got. The capacity for love and the capacity for hate and the capacity for everything in between. We can't be with other people's vitriol because deep down we're ashamed and afraid that we could act the same way for different reasons under different circumstances.
You may disagree with me and that's ok. You're entitled to run your own life.
But I invite you to look inside your own heart, your own soul, your own humanity, and meet other humans (AND YOURSELF) with just 2% more love and compassion than you normally do. Even that tiny change will start an enormous shift in healing these wounds.