Date Archives September 2020

The Five Electorates

Its probably fair to say that most, if not all of us, feel profound anxiety when it comes to this election. No matter the outcome, we are going to have a mess on the other side. Now, with the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the fast-tracking of a new conservative justice, we face a world primed for conflict and division.  Some of the anxiety is understanding how we got here. How did we become so divided? How did our relationships become weaponized? How did we come to accept… Read More

200,000

200,000.200,000 lives.200,000 precious lives.200,000 precious lives lost. Today, we mark the passing of more lives than our hearts can hold or minds can absorb. We mark the passing of 200,000 people – as many as live in Fort Lauderdale or Montgomery or Grand Rapids. We mark the passing of 200,000 people who had families that loved them, people who had plans for their futures, people who had dreams never to be achieved. 200,000. We must remember their lives in all of their complexity. They were Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians; every… Read More

Take Only What You Need

Recently I had a beautiful conversation with a colleague. Her mother had passed away, and she faced the overwhelming task of cleaning out her home. Weeks passed as she faced into the grief she knew this would bring and wrestled with the best way to approach the work. By a stroke of providence, she connected with a woman who ran an estate sales company. In conversation with her, the woman said to her, “Go through the house and take only what you want. Take all the time you need. Then… Read More

What recovering from COVID is teaching me

For the past 5 weeks, I have been among those struggling to recover from COVID-19. I experienced early symptoms, thought I was better, and then was slammed by a “second round” that has ultimately developed into pneumonia. Before this experience, I had not known illness personally. I had the occasional cold, but I did not know the fear of “shortness of breath.” I had never felt bronchial spasms. I never had to think about taking medication or consider how that medication impacted my body. I never had to slow down,… Read More

May Skywoman Fall Again

In Iroquois mythology, they have a beautiful story of how humans came to help form the world: The geese, turtles, otters, swans, ducks, fish of all kinds were living on the earth. One night they looked into the sky, and, much to their surprise, they saw a woman falling from the sky with a small bundle clutched in her hands. The geese took flight, knowing the woman was not made for the sea, and caught her in their wings before she fell too far. But the geese could not carry her… Read More