In This New Era...

Between the lockdown due to Covid-19 and the curfews due to the riots resulting from the killing of unarmed people of color by the police, I'd say the people in my immediate world -- the U.S. of A. are definitely navigating some seriously rough terrain. This is not to say that the rest of us, members of the human race, are simply enjoying life. Though if you are, good on you. Ain't no shame in that.

That said, I happen to be struggling quite a bit and I know several people who are too, black, white and everything in between.

What we are witnessing right now is plain and simple, the boiling over of way too many suppressed "everything." Do forgive my lack of proper vocabulary here, I'm at a loss for words. I've sat at my computer for days, stared at my social media updates on my phone for days, had long beautiful and hard talks with my white husband for days and I tell you... this shit is paralyzing. Period. At least for me.

So, what am I to do? What do I do? How do I serve through this? Help others through this? Inspire myself and others through this?

I felt inspired by this post, so I thought to share... Maybe these are words you need to here right now to help you put one foot in front of the other

I've had friends reach out to ask "as a white person, how can I be better for you?" and I melt, cause I'm thinking you're doing it. Just by asking that, you're being better and for that I salute you. I applaud your efforts. And, here's the remainder of my answer to that poignant question:

GET EDUCATED

What do I mean? Exactly that: get educated.

Unlearn a good chunk of what you've been taught, and have held on to as absolute truths subconsciously or otherwise for as long as you can remember.

Biases are biases and some of them can't be helped, but I promise you that most of them can and it takes patiently, gently (so that you actually accept and process what you're learning) teaching yourself and those around you how to recognize those biases, reduce and eventually eliminate them.

Also, check your privilege. Holy shit, duck! Yikes! I know, I said the P word.