Shhhh…..
Be quiet, Momma said.
Don’t rock the boat,
or create a ruckus.
Shush.
In all fairness, I have no idea if my Mother ever said those words. Despite an untraceable source, I heard the message loud and clear, tattooed it on my mind, and zipped my lips.
Until….I found you.
You get me.
You listen.
And you keep coming back,
so what I’m saying must have some value.
Here is where I ask for help….
Will you help me?
I believe protests and rallies had their place in history.
And I am not in any way equipped to debate their efficacy.
Yet, I see a different way and I’d like you to join.
Not through resistance, because as I see it, resistance raises the dander of the other.
And makes for winners, losers, or gridlock.
Force is all conquering but its victories are short lived. ~Abraham Lincoln
I can’t help but think that today’s American landscape is missing MLK’s mark.
I believe his comment reaches well beyond race, to all labels and sources of division.
Our aim must never be to defeat or humiliate the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding. ~Martin Luther King Jr
So what am I asking?
Well to be honest, I’m not 100% sure.
(I hope you’re laughing…or at a minimum…grinning.)
I believe there is a silent majority of humanity who stays quiet because they learned the same lessons I did.
Shush child. Don’t make a scene!
For the love of God, I know I parachuted this lesson into my own child’s mind every chance I got.
I see a different way for us quiet ones to stand up and make a difference.
We can be loud in a quiet way.
Through our actions of leading by example, which means we have to be seen.
I can’t tell you how many people have said to me, “Oh, I’m not the kind of person who comments on social media.”
I wasn’t either…until I was.
Let’s create a quiet ruckus of civility and open discussion.
Starting right here and now.
Please comment on this post.
Feel free to disagree.
:)
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I have so much to say about this, Gail, I could write a book, lol. For now, I'll just say- someone has to be the peacemaker. When two (or more) sides are at war, someone has to stay behind the lines, reaching out to hold the hands of others who are fearful, wounded, disaffected, hopeless. Someone has to speak softly to those who have shut out the screaming. Someone has to build the bridges. But I'm afraid to say this in some settings because the warriors then attack me--I speak from experience.
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I've been kicking around the idea of when to resist and when to be shushed; so far, I've got the baseline of "when have I reached the point that I'm willing to lose what I have left to get what I don't have?" And currently, I have a LOT left, so... Now, if my wife got murdered by POTUS red-hat goons, yeah, then I'd be researching how to turn a national convention building into a fuel-air bomb, or something similarly crazy. Otherwise, I'm settling for some nasty poetry!
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