In many ways, when I create my Viewpoint column, it feels like cooking up a recipe; one that requires one part truth, one part vulnerability and one part hopefulness. I always like to end my writings on a hopeful note because why would you eat the salad if you’re not going to enjoy the dessert, right?
Many of you who already know me — either personally or through my social media platforms — know my life revolves around education, politics and community service, as well as my personal spiritual path. Being present in the community can bring a unifying sense of purpose, commitment and the intention of improving everyone’s lives.
As you rally down the street, demanding for what one believes is the righteous protection for everyone, it can sometimes be a double-edged sword. One you wield in defense of yourself and your families, yet one that can strike back at you painfully. Even as I strive to keep the intentions of my work hopeful, I have to confess that lately I have been struggling to feel safe in our current state of affairs.
It could just be paranoia but I cannot ignore the fact that in this lacking sense of collective safety there is a feeling that we all, LGBTQ+ and intersectional communities, have struggled with before. Every word I choose to communicate something coming out of my mouth (or my fingers) is carefully curated because I know the power of words. A writing element that, when rearranged, also spells the word “sword”; and as such, words can be double-edged.
In the era of rampant social media, unbridled opinionated minds and boisterous chants, my mind has been focused lately on keeping myself in the safety of my home. As I witness the irresponsible actors in public office who, in ill-empowering fashion, resuscitate hurtful words from the past, such as “groomers,” “pedophiles” and “sinners,” just so they feel like the momentaneous heralds of truth, it only reminds us of the danger that cult-like minds pose to our society. Knowing exactly how fatal these words can be, they decide to use that side of the sword to inflict pain and disillusion. Make no mistake, those who purposefully use their words to blindly judge, attack and instigate falsehoods onto others, using their belief system as an anchor to justify their hatred, know what they are doing. When we see their insanity coming after us, how do we Lovehandle our own safety and the safety of the loved ones around us?
In a previous Viewpoint column, I made reference to one of the personal beliefs that I seek to follow wholeheartedly, and that concept is called ahimsa. In the philosophical traditions of Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism, among others, ahimsa is referred to as the virtue of nonviolence. Briefly explained, ahimsa calls on each of us to exercise, through thought, word and actions, the intention of not harming anyone or anything. When practiced consistently, this principle raises our awareness of the respect we all bring to the table, the one we deserve, but ultimately the one we must extend. This awareness of nonviolence is certainly easier said than done, but like any ritual or skill, the more we practice it, the better we become. Now, when faced with extreme acts of violence, like the ones we have been seeing escalating in the past years, we become more and more excruciating to experience, the challenge to be nonviolent and follow a path of loving kindness rests at the edge of the same sword. When we hear, see or experience hatred, I would like to invite you to think of it in this way: when someone is mad, upset and yelling, there are only two sides of the spectrum where those feelings stem from — love or fear. When we don’t know something, we fear it; when we fear what we don’t know we avoid it, and when we avoid what we don’t know, our world shrinks to the size of a marble, and so will our capacity to become nonviolent.
When looking at angry people, I like to imagine a blazing fire. To put out a fire we need to bring an extinguishing agent but you don’t throw water at the flames. You have to aim for the base, the root cause of the fire where the flame lies, to bring that fire to disappear. The main object of so many disputes and violent acts lies in our incessant need to react, be inflamed, and while we all have the capacity to bring down a city with flames, we also carry within us the agent to pacify the heat, and when the heat is down, we can all breathe better. This scene can be extrapolated to various aspects of our daily lives, from the tweet we just read to the email from work we just received to the driver in front of us on the streets; as so many rusty swords come at us all at the same time, we have the power to decide how and if they will hurt us or if we will let that sword hone itself in your invincible nonviolent persona.
The escalation of violent acts in the past years only reminds us that these will not cease or disappear any time soon, unfortunately. Our sense of collective safety continues to be challenged by these external forces or our deepest, most personal mental manifestations. The way you wake up and actively decide to take on your day is key, as the bodies of energy we are your vibrational frequency will protect you from harm or pull you right into it, relentlessly. When you start to feel the heat blazing up within you from a situation that you have little to no control of, allow yourself to stop and take a look at the root of that fear. Ask yourself why you feel the way you feel, and honor the power within you to wield the sword to strike, or the words that strive for peace in all of us. You have the final (s)word.
