These days we all know our democracy is in trouble.
We don’t agree on what the trouble is,
but we all know our division is getting worse.
I bought a book this week by Nathan Law,
a young leader of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
He courageously stood up against the Chinese Communist party
and had to go into exile in London.
Law’s book is called FREEDOM: How We Lose It and How We Fight Back.
He recounts how incredibly fast our freedom can be taken away from us.
He warns us of the extreme danger of authoritarian government.
His goal is to inspire us to protect our democracy and our freedom.
If we don’t, we could lose them forever.
Are we able to hear his message?
Unfortunately, we humans are genius
at not hearing a message we don’t want to hear. 🙂
As a therapist, I can tell you it can take years
for a person to be willing to face
that they are their own worst enemy.
“No!” they protest.
“So-and-so!”(read: their mother) is the cause of all my problems.”
Funny how the same thing happens when we talk about politics.
The enemy is always someone else.
WE, however, are always innocent.
Always smelling like a rose.
So…who SHALL we blame for our democracy being in trouble?
I have no interest in blaming anyone.
I think we all bear some responsibility.
What interests me is solutions, not blame and rage and venting.
Haven’t we ALL had enough of that???
Allow me to quote a song by Gerry Rafferty:
“Clowns to the left of me
Stuck in the middle with you – Stealers Wheel
Jokers to the right
Here I am stuck in the middle with you”
Yes, indeed.
Here we are, you and me.
No matter who caused this mess,
we are who it is up to
to save us.
In the middle
I pray I get to be stuck in the middle with you!!!
Any time you want to join me there
so we can breathe new life into our democracy.
I will sing all the freedom songs I know.
And I know lots!
We will celebrate together
that we still have a chance
to raise up and heal our beloved country.
Being “stuck” here together will be wonderful, folks.
The middle of our political spectrum is
the beautiful center
created from the best of both sides.
And this beautiful center
is where you and I are going to do
some mighty fine building.
So how do we do that?
We take responsibility.
We stop blaming everyone else.
We take responsibility.
We call a cease fire.
Stop posting our angry rants and attacks.
We decide to come back from the brink.
Become builders.
Start posting constructive ideas.
Make things better, not worse.
We summon the courage
to come out of our self righteous little
Democrat or Republican echo chambers
and actually get to know our neighbors.
Listen to their thoughts and ideas.
Learn from those who see things differently than we do.
Find the best in them,
and seek common ground.
For more on how we can do this
please see my previous posts:
Shall we mingle with people in the other political party?
Can we begin to love our ugly neighbor?
And for some thoughts on the beauty of creating new life,
please see:
How do we bring new life into the world?
Thank you for all the ways you
will bring new life to our democracy.
I hope you will write and tell me about it!
Dr. Hall