"You are worthy of wishing yourself well."
-Jack Kornfield (via LA YOGA)
It's Monday morning, and I'm listening to Stevie Wonder. Stevie is masterful at balancing love with righteous anger. Sometimes you just need to check in with someone, somewhere, who seems to make sense of the world.
This is a tall order these days. It is hard for me to keep in mind that my personal wellbeing is important compared to the safety of protestors in Tahrir Square or to those in Burma fighting for any kind of representation. I am deeply saddened by the actions of the Berkeley police, and the administration of UC Berkeley, who called them in and allowed them to beat students. That they inadvertently beat wonderful poet, translator, and teacher Robert Hass is almost beside the point - he could have been any 70 year old man - they were completely indiscriminate. We are well on our way to another Kent State.
As we stare down the barrel of the tactics used by police forces around the country to evict peaceful protestors, as our psyches try to process the awfulness allowed to occur and continue at Penn State, it is clear we are in the process of discovering and shining light on a kind of baseline violence that is pervasive.
Truth can be very unsettling. The only balance to this is peace. A very vigilant daily practise of peace.
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