After a long silence, the blog is back. I haven’t missed it that much, really. I’ve felt more contemplative and reflective the last couple months rather than really wanting to speak out about anything. Perhaps it was my winter dormancy.
But now, spring is in the air, the bulbs are blooming, the garden is full of daffodils and freesias – one of my favorite flowers and scents. I’ve been painting a bit again – gotta get pics online – and now need to find my voice again and start speaking out, about so many things.
First is the state of things in this country. Like so many, I’m concerned about where this country is heading. I see the Bush administration as one that approaches a fascist abuse of power, and lacks any concern for opinions other than its own, which are directed at making money for those in the administration and its friends and supporters, and heading the country towards the PNAC goals. I find it divisive, and lacking in concern for the rest of the world.
The problem is most of Bush’s support comes from the right wing base that does not understand the true position of this country in the world. These people believe we can survive without considering other’s needs and desires, just as so many of them personally cannot seem to consider the needs and desires of other individuals, and think their own set of values should be superimposed on other people.
The only way to address this is to speak to these people as individuals, and have them individually come to see that they are part of a greater whole that is bigger than what they believe it to be. They see themselves as a part of this coutnry, instead of as a part of the world as a whole. They see their own set of values, rather than the larger set of values from which other people choose, which are just as correct as their own. They see their own faith and belief, rather than seeing the endless variety of belief systems that lead to lives as peaceful, as spiritually fulfinng, and as much a guidance system for proper action in themselves and towards others as their own is.
I am only one person, an individual, and have not yet taken much opportunity to speak out. But I have always seen myself as only a small part of a larger whole. My larger whole is not limited, though. It is inclusive of myself, the garden I maintain, the city and country I live in, the world at large, the relationship with my children and their influence on others, the relationship with friends, some of whom have come to deny their relationship with me in harmful ways, and many, many other things.
I have come to be at peace with myself, and with where I am at in my life. It’s time to bring that peace out to others and work to end whatever strife I can in the world. The path to doing that is not yet clear to me. I have tried to do that in bits and pieces before, with my work as a consultant, but this can only address some very small pieces. Now I find myself wanting to address larger pieces and issues, and being unclear as to what direction to take. But I am calm and know those answers will come in time. Perhaps only in integrating ourselves and our own small part of the world can we come to be the kind of people who can progress to truly working towards that goal with others.