#blacklivesmatter #bluelivesmatter #alllives matter
All lives matter.
I woke up at 4:30am in a cold sweat, my sheet had somehow wrapped itself tightly around my body. Mummylike, immobile. When I blinked, my eyelids ached and slowly my awareness drifted down through my bones until I accepted that I was ill.
The last thing that I had read before turning out the light was of the ambush in Dallas. I had rolled onto my back, staring into the darkness. Helpless then, also. My sadness broke my body in two.
“How much longer will it be?” I whispered towards the lowing moon. Is this the apex of our shredded state? Through this roiling hatred, I don’t recognize my country anymore. And how I chewed on those words like dice rattling, too similar, too recent.
And yet,
amidst the stillness I could feel my heart opening like ghost blooms unfolding with silent stealth,
I choose Love.
I choose Unity.
I choose Faith.
I choose Hope.
I believe. Like petals pushing on my burning forehead, open.
Tell me we are together in this and I will take it as a balm.
For I know you to be true and that is healing, our humanity.
Change will come.
It is a sad state we are in. I think there are people that stoke the embers and keep the
fire burning. Not only our country but others have these hate mongers. THIS CAUSE'S WARS AND FIGHTING.
"I choose Love.
I choose Unity.
I choose Faith.
I choose Hope."
Yes. All of us should.
Others pray silently. Their voices are also heard.
We should adamantly refuse to be "dead inside."
To quote Cheryl Wheeler: "If it were up to me, I'd take away the guns."
Thank you for that response, "Silke B". In response to your question (""how can she talk about this, she is German"?)?…….all I can say is that I've been fortunate in having had several (five, to be precise; two are now dead) German friends in my adult life. They count among the most socially-conscientious folks I've ever known. As you may know, all too many Americans are all too inclined, for at least the last fifty years, to close our eyes and simply listen to all the Ronald Reagans telling us that we are, somehow, some sort of "shining city on a hill" and to simply IGNORE any glaring inconsistencies in this "ideal" America.
Thank you again, David Terry
P.S. Julie Bresette is right.
—-d.terry
Dear Heather (and, obviously, your readers)……
These days are, indeed, difficult to comprehend. I'm the first to admit that, while listening to the news over the past month (and more), I've regularly considered that my "problems" are as nothing when compared to those of others….many of whom live not at all "far away" from me.
Lately?…..I try to constantly recall a passage from a letter that Fra Giovanni Gioconda wrote (circa 1530). I knew of it from my gradstoodinting/translating/linguist/smartass days during my twenties……but I don't think I ever fully appreciated it until recently:
"The gloom of this world is but a shadow;
behind it, yet within our reach, is joy.
Take joy."
Some of the simplest and most productive ideas do, indeed, require the most conscious effort to accept. I turned 56 this past month and, as I went to bed (following a fairly elaborate birthday party that was thrown for me,replete with screaming and cheering friends in a friend's very nice house, just down the road in this all-too-perfect, historic town) reminded myself of those lines.
quite sincerely,
David Terry
http://www.davidterryart.com
Thank you for that response, Marsha.
Quite sincerely,
david terry
http://www.davidterryart.com
"Hands up, don't shoot- moment", proven or not proven. One fact remains: ALL LIVES MATTER, black lives, blue lives and white lives.
My only consolation throughout this heartbreak is that I can choose to love. It is the only answer.