As I've pondered about what to write this week, my heart feels heavy. Somehow talking about Chocolate, our goat who has decided she's a chicken and pushes her way into the chicken coop to lie with the hens or telling you about Felix our shy new barn cat, doesn't seem right.
Like many of you, I awoke this morning to the news out of Orlando of yet another mass shooting. The day passed with the now familiar litany of the internet jumping to conclusions and politicians expressing outrage and sadness while families weep in front of cameras.
My simple soul longs to shut it all out and plant trees across the driveway. Turn off my phone and the radio and ponder the quiet beauty of a young radish, pause to watch a bumble bee feed on the chive blossoms or sit a while and watch the lazy flight of an all too rare monarch butterfly...But somehow I know that would be irresponsible, that it is exactly that type of ostrich in the sand type of behavior that perpetuates the ignorance and apathy that begets such horrible acts in the first place. Our world is a complicated place and requires a level of engagement and intention from all of us to create and protect space for everyone... black, brown, queer, straight, rich, poor, ignorant and sophisticated.... everyone! Hate creeps in when we aren't paying attention, when we lose focus and intention.
My head hurts when I think about the complicated issues that surround the shooting, my heart hurts when I think about the lives snuffed out because hate or sickness broke through. Tomorrow I will engage 'cause that's what the universe needs... but for now, I'm off to watch the bees and try to heal this simple soul.
Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful. ~ Margaret Wheatley
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