Rise, dear friends, with your authenticity, your uniqueness, your beauty, your courage, your intelligence, your creativity, your awareness, your wisdom, your open-heartedness, your empathy, your tenderness, your compassion, your light and love. our world needs us. being mindful of our actions, may we protest nonviolently & non-aggressively, even while being strong & steadfast with fierce compassion. there’s no reason to give this administration any more excuses to escalate & be violent. though i have little doubt they won’t be so or do so anyway, but that is their shame to carry, the shame of those who align with cruelty rather than love, who have fallen from life and into an ideology of nihilism and death. so align with life and possibility, and be love, dear friends. be aware, mindful, clear in thought and open in heart.
it is not strength we are seeing, but fragility & fear, by a group of people who have aligned with cruelty rather than love, who propagate lies rather than truth, who see themselves as rulers rather than public servants.
but they are not the majority, they work for us, & they are showing how weak they actually are.
show up. stand up. speak up with the fierce compassion of love for all who are being harmed & threatened.
“Watching you hold your hatred for such a long time I wonder: Isn’t it slippery? Might you not someday drop it on yourself? I wonder: Where does it sleep if ever? And where do you deposit it while you feed your children or sit in the lap of the one who cherishes you? There is no graceful way to carry hatred. While hidden it is everywhere.” ~ Alice Walker
there’s no hiding the heaviness of it, the inability to contain it once it is out, setting fire with words, hands, & steps. but it’s easy, isn’t it? at first? maybe the reason so many fall for it.but please love, friends. instead of hate, please love. even through the harm, the cruelty, the suffering – not in spite of it – but ever more because of it. love the immigrant, the trans person, & all who are living in fear, who can’t remember their sacredness because their very embodiment is being devalued & dismissed. they are Christ in disguise. so love in this dark moment, when others choose hate. love gently & tenderly, with conviction & ferocity, with open hearts & strong backs, upright & present.or else life as we hope it to be, will be destroyed.
i think we can learn a great deal from the story of the Buddha.
here is this Indian prince, Siddhartha Gautama, raised up in wealth & privilege, isolation from the pains of the world. when he sees suffering – a sick person, an aging person, a deceased person, & then sees a wondering ascetic who appears at peace, the prince is so deeply affected & moved that rather than running back to his comfortable, privileged life, he abandons all the comforts, status, & wealth to seek out the source of suffering. then when he wakes up to what suffering is, he spends the rest of his life, trying to teach people the truth that he encountered so that they too, may be free from suffering. this renunciation of wealth & comfort, offering oneself completely in service to compassion, seems so foreign to the ultra wealthy we see in power today.
can you imagine it?
his is not the ideology of oligarchy or kleptocracy, of over consumption, hyper-capitalism & greed. his is not the perspective that empathy is something to distain or a weakness.
may we, like the Buddha, find our way to a life in service to compassion, rather than a life that values or even looks up to the hoarding of wealth & power, which won’t last anyway. death will come & as the saying goes – you can’t take it with you.
may we keep this in mind as we push back & deconstruct all that is harmful & exclusive, as we work to create a world of peace, a world of equity & justice, a world of inclusivity & healing, of reconciliation & restoration.
may open hearts & clear, aware, wise minds prevail in this time for the benefit of all.
sometimes love says the only thing that is needed in a moment of immense harm, with the conviction of life itself buoying the word with righteous, fierce compassion:
this moment, as challenging as it is, will have its end. this is the truth of our existence here. all things are marked by impermanence, including fascists & their fascist government. this is why they cling so desperately & so easily fall into violence, they fear the inevitable.
may something beautiful, just, inclusive, equitable, healing, & compassionate rise out of the ashes of this dark time.
may we allow our hearts to open, to be instruments of peace, planting seeds of love for the future.
it’s important to remember that this was a ruse from the beginning. numerous studies have been conducted to analyze data that shows undocumented immigrants commit crime at a lower rate than US born citizens.
recently, SCOTUS ruled in favor of Donald Trump rescinding the temporary legal status of over 500,000 immigrants living here legally in the United States. are we supposed to believe they are all violent rapists, gang members, & asylum escapees? please.
hundreds of immigrant men have been swooped up, disappeared & sent to an El Salvadoran gulag without due process. investigations by journalist cross checking crime records and databases have revealed that at least some if not a majority of those men have no criminal record.now a militarized presence to detain people who are working in the garment district, who are line cooks, who are waiting outside of Home Depot trying to get work?
detaining parents who are attending their kids elementary school graduation? detaining juveniles on the way to sports practice or immigration hearings?
this has never been about crime or making us safer, or improving the economy. we are not being invaded. but, real people are being harmed, lives are being destroyed, families are being ripped apart, people are being detained & disappeared without due process. so when they say we are being invaded or there are violent riots in Los Angeles (even though LAPD is disputing this as of this writing) & they want to heighten the militarized presence, even with actual military, we should ask ourselves what this may actually be about.
this is a dark moment, this is cruel, this is anti-democracy, this is anti-love, & for all the cross wearing from those in this administration, this is anti-Christ. may hearts open, may awareness, clarity & wisdom arise. may we be lights in this darkness.
following up, i’ve seen footage and some reporting that some of the protest turned aggressive. i haven’t seen any reports of any of the local government or state government of California, stating that it was out of control of local authorities and law-enforcement. the administration will spin this as their reason and excuse for escalating with the presence of National Guard and suggesting use of military. but local State law-enforcement, and government have maintained that this is an unnecessary provocative & harmful escalation by the White House. all the more reason for those protesting to be mindful of their actions, to always protest nonviolently, & non-aggressively even while being strong & steadfast with fierce compassion. there’s no reason to give this administration any more excuses to escalate & be violent. 🙏🏼
i think this is a beneficial reminder, seeing the types of actions that we are currently bearing witness to in Los Angeles, in San Diego, & in cities & towns across this nation. it also bears repeating that a lot of the activity we are seeing is not in fact, legal or constitutional. it is also a grave disappointment to see local authorities who pledged to not participate, acquiesce to the whim of the White House. but this is the truth, fascism is a virus & spreads insidiously, sometimes unknowingly until the symptoms are obvious. we should ask ourselves the question – is it obvious yet?
for a lot of us the answer is, & has been for some time, clearly yes.
may hearts open, may awareness, clarity, wisdom, & moral authority arise.
The Metta Garden 
