WriteTogether Reflection: Week Four

I think about what the last four years have been like, globally, in the US, and locally. And I see that four years have aged us decades. We, us humans, are exhausted. We are full of intense and sometimes unmanageable emotions, and for some of us that is overwhelming and triggers our primal responses.

Fight. Flight. Freeze. Flop. Fawn.

There has been immense joy and delight throughout the last four years, more for some than others. And yet, as I look at the world around me, the gut-wrenching heartache is so intense I can hardly breathe. The light has shined on one too many terrors, nightmares, and rages.

The light. Human beings whose images are burned in our minds, whose actions have changed the course of our lives. People who stand up against active tyranny, who don’t let us forget where we actually came from or the atrocities that have been (and still are being) committed in our name or with our tax dollars. Whole humans who knew the risks, and did the thing anyway because not doing it would have been inconsistent with their values… Standing in stark contrast to the deep and wretched ugliness that has dehumanized us.

I wonder if we will ever see each other as fully human. If we can ever actually be human to each other.  I hope we can, I yearn for it.

Our humanity is precious and worthy.

We need rest, joy, sustenance. We need each other.

And yet, we treat the world as though it is garbage, and each other as though we are less than garbage.

My reflections this week have taken me down some roads I didn’t expect. There’s a lot to notice, and a lot to release. There’s so much more to excavate, heal from, and to keep fighting.

This was tough, but what I needed. It is fueling me for what is coming.