Can you believe we are in the final weeks of summer and already stepping towards autumn? As I look back at this year, I find myself somewhat awestruck that it has been seven months since I self-isolated. It feels like yesterday that I was preparing myself mentally, emotionally and logically, to shelter in place. But as the nation started to slowly open back up, I was able to visit with family members because of a medical emergency, and even spent some time with a friend, once. Mostly though, I stay home and keep myself entertained by writing, painting, drawing, designing fun t-shirts to sell on my website, listening to music, reading the news, and working my day job. In the last day or two however, I have noted the start of an evening chill. When I venture outside, I find yellow leaves that have started to drop from trees around my house, lightly splashing the ground with a vibrant yellow hue, and it dawned on me— we are approaching my favorite time of year!
This year, I find myself welcoming this new season from a different vantage point. It is like I’m experiencing what I call a Rip Van Winkle moment where I feel as if I have been asleep all year, and slowly waking up to see unbelievable changes in the people around me. It’s shocking that I have seemingly missed so much. During this pandemic, I find that there is much discord in the voices of Americans speaking hateful rhetoric in deplorable tones. There are people rightfully protesting social- and civil-injustice and others who are creating mayhem in the hopes of discrediting peaceful gatherings. We have a president of a free and persevering people stoking fear and civil unrest, encouraging felonious acts, and the chants of us-vs-them that is creating a divide among our people is deafening. Worse yet, the divide is seemingly deeper and deeper. It’s as if the negative labels we have placed over our heart have been adhered using super glue, and have taken precedence over being independent and free-thinking people comprising the resilience of a once united super-power nation. Do we see that we are willfully creating all this unrest? I wonder, what has happened to loving one another?
What I love most about autumn is watching nature in action as trees, grass, flowers and shrubs prepare for the dark shadows of winter to heave its sickle and reap all that is unprotected to the threshing floor. For nature to continue its cycle of life, water begins to shift inward and down to its roots cutting off any nourishment to the leaves that has provided shade and protection from the heat of the summer sun. We see the leaves change colors and we find it comforting; warm. The leaves eventually drop to the ground as a sacrifice to preserving the life of the tree, leaving us with a crunchy blanket on our lawns. These leaves become nourishment for the soil that cradles each fallen leaf. The bark begins to harden protecting the integrity of the tree from being among all that is reaped. Yes, I realize that may sound pretty dark and gloomy, but I think it’s beautiful. By cutting off circulation and killing the ability to sustain any semblance of life, to areas that may be exposed to the harsh cold of winter, it allows itself to continue living. That is nature. That is love. Personally, it’s a reminder that we humans also go through our own seasonal adjustment as we prepare for change.
Could this be what 2020 is all about? Could this be what the pandemic is trying to teach us? Is the world going through a seasonal change? People talk about how the world will be forever changed after this pandemic, we hope that change creates a better place yet.
And as things change and as we evolve, our priorities tend to shift. Slowly we notice our wants, our needs, our likes, and our energy levels are different. Yet, our cycle of life continues. As the sun shifts seasonally across the sky, we must shift as well. In each season of our life, we have an opportunity to check the harmony of our beating heart. Does the tempo still beat to a cadence that makes us true to who we are at the core? A loving and forgiving people seeking love and forgiveness in return? Like the falling leaves of autumn, we get to choose what to let go of if only to preserve who we are deep in our soul. We get to decide to let go of the fear driving us towards losing our ability to be good to each other. We get the choice to stop bad habits which create limitations barring us from progressing towards our personal goals of being happy, fulfilled and resilient. We get to choose who and what, to pull closer to our hearts. More importantly, we alone will determine whether to love, not only ourselves, but one another. As we look at the toxic labels we have placed over our hearts, we have the opportunity to drop them to the ground — like the trees shedding its leaves — in order to continue living a fulfilled life; the life we were born into.
So as we step into a new season of shedding — autumn, I hope you can look at all that is preventing you to love. Is it the peaceful protesters lamenting justice? Perhaps look beyond the movement, and listen to the hearts that are crying. These protesters are your neighbors, family members and the community. Behind their tears is pain. They are really saying something important.
Being a person who advocates for love and peace, I try to listen to those who support the current administration with understanding to hear what they’re saying. While I do not agree with the hateful rhetoric, it’s clear there are problems affecting everyone in some way, whether job functions have been changed or eliminated, or that wages have not increased enough to accommodate a rising cost-of-living; or simply that the line separating the haves and have-nots is significantly leaning more towards the have-nots. It’s no longer a frustration of not being able to satisfy wants, it’s a fear of not being able to satisfy basic needs, like shelter, food, heat, water, etc. This is a critical point, food lines are growing in communities for example. The number of homeless families is growing beyond numbers that are nowhere near acceptable. How is this possible in a country that is deemed a super power?
So I am asking, please try to listen to the yearning cries from the hearts of the people. There are many humane issues that need to be addressed. In this changing season, pull off labels that no longer serve you; especially the labels that prevent you from being good to another. Open your heart and mind to loving without judgment. It is most important to peel off the label tainted with so much hate. It’s debilitating and it’s contributing to the demise of this great country.
So in this favorite season of mine, let us take the time to savor all of our blessings. Let us also open our hearts to those who are hurting and searching for a way to help people within our community affected by current circumstances. Let us shed all that is creating a dying breath in our soul so that we may preserve the life we were born to live with happiness, love, and peace. Let us be of purpose to one another and perpetuate love. Are you ready? Want to contribute to the loving growth of our neighbors, our community, our nation?
Here are some suggestions:
Donate food, funds, and/or time to your local food bank
Donate blankets, coats, hats and gloves to your local homeless shelters
Volunteer to help students and teachers
Volunteer at your local Workforce Commission and help someone with creating or updating their resume; participate in a mock interview; or train someone in a skill you excel at; or donate/lend a suit for an interview
Check-in with, or do something nice, for your neighbor
Forgive a debt. (Simply tell someone who owes you money, “You owe me nothing.”)
Listen to the angst, be a part of the solution
Choose to love without judgement
Write your Senate and House representatives:
require them to be accountable to their constituents by admonishing policies that are creating this economic divide, and allowing social-injustice
require that they hold our president accountable to being truthful, to stop him from being a fear-mongerer, and from advocating violence
Wear a mask
Pray to God for guidance
Vote!