The Label Maker

It's seems like such a responsible way to order a world...a world of tools? Make a label so the hammer goes here and the nails go there. 

Here, is your space, notice the label? And this is mine.  

And we label and compartmentalized, and organize and we plan and we have our yardsticks and put everything in it's place and a place for it all...and our little systems serve us well. 

We do this with everything and in theory, it works.  It's the framework for culture and all the systems we belong to.  It is how we connect; by binding ourselves to similar things, beliefs, motivations.  

While the world is enraged because a few white men, needlessly killed a black man, sides have been taken, labels have been made and the system begins to explode and more than a life has been lost. No matter who you are or what you believe our collective sense of safety and security was lost overnight.  No matter who you are or what you believe you've probably already chosen a side and divided yourself from more personal relationships that mattered too, yet your anger and fear meant more.  No matter who you are or what you believe, life has changed; from the imperceptible microaggressions we have come to live with and accept, to full on war and crumbling humanity...all because of a label. 

Black

White

Skinny

Fat

Rich

Poor

Do we really need so many adjectives to describe a Child of God?  Would this situation have played out differently if the headline had of read..."Four men, killed another man in a senseless act of aggression." 

What then?  Would we have still been enraged?  Yes, probably.  Would we now be divided?  No. Would we have then approached the situation with a collective feeling of love, kindness, charity...Would we; could we have strived just a little harder to understand the why?  Could we have intercepted our fear that so quickly turns to anger and rage, to consider a fragment of forgiveness?  Is it even possible for humanity to stop in our tracks and consider the perspectives and context for all involved?  Has it ever occured to one single human that if we all felt a little more love, a little more heard, a little more accepted, a little less judged, this could have been avoided entirely? 

This country, so full of shiny things, is crumbling under the dark scarcity of love, kindness, tolerance, patience, Godliness, long suffering... all the virtues that were once so guarded. 

What is playing out in extreme National ways, are what we have all faced in smaller, less dramatic acts of never quite fitting in with a label we didn't get to choose. It's not a broadcast on the evening news but there is loss of self, and security remains breached all the same. 

"Have you thought about eating a cheeseburger or two?"  Advice offered to the skinny girl.

"Looks like someone found the kitchen..."  Commented to the skinny girl who gained a few pounds.

"Why are you trying to sell your clothes that no actual human could get their ankle in?"

It starts with the little things...and I don't care what you want to believe, they turn into big things.  Maybe not for you...but for someone.  Maybe even someone you love. 

These are just a few of the things that 'friends' have spoken to me.  They were hurtful, shaming, and label making.  We do this every day!  It's time to admit this!   Little microaggressions because of our own lack of love, acceptance and insecurities.   How often have we been shamed in the past 6 weeks for a view that was less than popular regarding the pandemic?  How often are Facebook posts created to shame a person who does or does not wear a mask?  You don't have to kneel on the neck of another human being to hurt them seriously, maybe even kill what little self they had left.  

So before you pick a side and let your wild voice be heard, then condemn your friend who thinks differently...pick up on the idea that there is a severe shortage of love, pure love.  Condemning the officers who made a terrible choice and wishing anything other than justice by the law, doesn't make you better or show solidarity in defense of the poor young man who died at their hands. it makes you the same!  It's the same anger, the same misguided, knee jerk lack of love response that caused the entire problem to start with.  

I don't have the answers for a National problem but I know without a doubt, this very same issue, call it what you want, is playing out in your own little perfect home, and in your neighbor's and in all of us and it's not about the color of your skin.  That is the scapegoat so we don't have to feel the truth.  We are all starving for love and attention and a real connection when we can feel validated and accepted.  We never feel enough and we are forever reaching for someone to blame, to shift the responsibility but it starts with each of us...at home...in our hearts... 

It's not the President who divided us.  It's not the police who divided us.  It's not the person who refuses to wear a mask in public who divided us...It's you and it's me.

Think about that!

Pick that side! That side that starts the healing and integrates the uniqueness of us all. 

  

We aren't all in this together if we can't even unite in love and allow each other a unique perspective, a different side of the story and gifts and talents that come from being a Child of God.