{"id":2196,"date":"2018-10-08T12:11:01","date_gmt":"2018-10-08T19:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/?p=2196"},"modified":"2018-10-08T12:11:01","modified_gmt":"2018-10-08T19:11:01","slug":"looking-for-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/2018\/10\/looking-for-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking For Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hope, Anger, Courage<\/strong><\/p>\n

After yet another of the worst weeks of my life, I\u2019m feeling battered and overwhelmed as usual yet something new is being added to the mixed-up mix. It took me a while to figure out that what\u2019s new is a new kind of hope. I was recently reminded of a quote from Augustine of Hippo:<\/p>\n

\u201cHope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is the kind of hope I can feel moving in my being right now. I may never have been quite this angry before, partly because I\u2019ve never been as enormously, electrically aware of the way rich old mostly white guys enjoy abusing their power and privileges. Their malignant glee in harming people they scorn radiates true evil as well as short sighted stupidity. It\u2019s becoming clear as various members of the current regime spill their revolting confessions that causing harm to innocent people and to the earth is a deliberate policy of this regime. Keeping progressives upset day after day, month after month, year after year is an effective tactic. It leaves us weary and overwhelmed, since responding to so many damaging, malicious actions dilutes our ability to act.<\/p>\n

A New Anger<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a different kind of anger develops in me, I\u2019m realizing that my previous angers have been immature and crippled. I hadn\u2019t really believed that I have true agency, a real ability to affect outcomes and bring about positive change. As the Me Too movement continues to expose countless instances of sexual abuse, millions of women are coming to terms with our own experiences. Speaking truth and being heard, acknowledged, and honored begins a deep healing that can unleash our chained up power. It\u2019s disconcerting to realize that if I wasn\u2019t the one who put those chains in place, I\u2019ve been the one who replaced them many, many times. As I\u2019ve pondered my own past, I am seeing with new, clear eyes how I grew up blind to my own power. Indeed, having rarely seen power used benignly, I resented and feared all power, including my own.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be turning 67 next month, an age that has traditionally been considered well past the power point. Ironically, I\u2019m feeling stronger, clearer, and wiser than ever before. I\u2019m also more compassionate, even as I\u2019m becoming angrier by the day. Perhaps it\u2019s that balance that makes this new anger feel more potent; I no longer experience myself as a helpless victim. Uncovering seemingly endless memories is both painful and enriching. Allowing hurtful, ugly, humiliating memories to have their moment in the sun of my own loving acknowledgement and acceptance is surprisingly healing because I feel myself gaining the power I set aside so many times.<\/p>\n

Identify The Resistance<\/strong><\/p>\n

A recent NYT Op-Ed by Michelle Alexander entitled \u2018We Are Not The Resistance<\/strong>\u2019 points out that members of the current regime are doing all they can to stall and stop and frustrate the revolutionary America that wants everyone to enjoy freedom, liberty and social and economic justice. Resistance movements are usually small and covert, working in stealth against unjust regimes. Today in America, an unjust regime is working in plain sight against our country and the American people, against the world and all people of conscience and goodwill. Most Americans genuinely want to participate in the America Alexander posits; \u201cA new nation is struggling to be born, a multiracial, multiethnic, multifaith, egalitarian democracy in which every life and every voice truly matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t build that nation together unless we ARE together. Remember? A house divided cannot stand. A nation divided cannot stand. Part of what makes us so vulnerable to takeover is the erosion of community in small towns and cities alike. If we are ever to find reconciliation as a nation, we all have to help mend the rifts and divisions that are splintering us into ever smaller groups. Remember, that\u2019s deliberate; tribalism is as divisive as community is unifying. Our most powerful protest may be to refuse to be polarized, choosing instead to connect and reconnect, reweaving social rents and tears with the strong cords of community.<\/p>\n

Courage To Change<\/strong><\/p>\n

Though Courage is Anger\u2019s sister, she is not necessarily angry herself. It\u2019s difficult to create positive change when anger is our favorite tool, and anger is stoked by failure, not success. Most humans change most readily when they feel loved and supported. My inner Sister Courage is cheerful and helpful, friendly and positive, and implacably committed to finding constructive, inclusive ways to move forward. Yes, that\u2019s also difficult, but Sister Courage and Sister Change are both recharged by success, not failure.<\/p>\n

As Martin Luther King assured us, \u201cDarkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.\u201d Sister Courage refuses to take the slippery slide into darkness and despair. Today I\u2019m holding her hand and walking out of my own shadows into the light of truthful day. It\u2019s painful but it\u2019s worth it; wounds that fester in darkness can heal when exposed to light and air.<\/p>\n

Persisterhood Prevails<\/strong><\/p>\n

All over the world, women who have experienced abuse make up a majority of every population (and always have). Right now, it\u2019s tempting to feel that speaking out isn\u2019t an effective tool for making change, since our anguished cries are falling on deliberately deaf ears. That\u2019s not new, but in fact, what\u2019s happening IS new; as women speak out, our sisterhood is uniting us. As we all speak out, decent, compassionate, kind men are uniting as well. When we join in universal community, our deepest desire is not for revenge but for reconciliation that leads us all out of the cesspool of patriarchy into a better future. Not perfect. But better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though Courage is Anger\u2019s sister, she is not necessarily angry herself. It\u2019s difficult to create positive change when anger is our favorite tool, and anger is stoked by failure, not success. Most humans change most readily when they feel loved and supported. My inner Sister Courage is cheerful and helpful, friendly and positive, and implacably committed to finding constructive, inclusive ways to move forward. Yes, that\u2019s also difficult, but Sister Courage and Sister Change are both recharged by success, not failure. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[1766,1622,1767,1765],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1lB7f-zq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2196"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2196"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2198,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2196\/revisions\/2198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}