People are People, Dogs are Dogs

Wow.
I can hardly write yet.
I’m still held in silent reverie after reading your letter to the editor and blog entry, Dave.

Let’s see: where shall I begin? First, my observations: your letter is concise, clearly organized, and packs a powerful punch (okay, that’s a judgement! )). Another judgement: it’s a powerful and COMPASSIONATE punch, which I would label as the very best kind. And can be challenging to do in a society that fosters an “us and them” mentality so often! (Which is exactly the mentality I see you compassionately, intelligently, and articulately standing up against here).

What strikes me most is how you’ve used ‘I messages’ and your own feelings combined with observations and facts (i.e. “History has shown repeatedly that dehumanizing people leads to violence and hampers healing.”) as well as expressed compassion for the very person whom you are recommending change his ways, e.g. acknowledging the Pullitzer Prize-winning talent of the cartoon’s author.

Perhaps one reason I’ve found this blog entry and letter so moving to me is that it resonates with a MAJOR passion in my life: being an agent of change in a way that expresses compassion to ALL people. I’ve long admired people who can “go out on a limb” to stand up for their beliefs (including the literal “limb-goers” who sacrifice so much to sleep in old growth trees to save them (I’m a child of the coastal Redwood forest, so you better believe we learned about Madame Butterfly from our home community at a young age!). AND (not but) many of the people whom I’ve seen depicted through the media as “standing up for their beliefs” are actually “fighting for their beliefs:” or being fought against, with violence i.e. environmental protesters spitting at police officers and getting tear-gassed; people going off the deep end (my judgement) and bombing an abortion clinic, etc. etc. etc. I feel sad when I see people claim to be advocating for the welfare of others in ways that simply depreciate, dehumanize, and alientate other beings.

The vision I have for the way I want to live my life is to be able to work within systems to change systems; to create friends while still creating change; to value and understand nuances and needs, fears and hopes and dreams of those whom I disagree with, of those whom I long to influence, whether that’s voting for policy that helps close the Educational Achievement Gap, or dedicating my life’s work to creating systemic change in school-based pediatric Physical Therapy, or something totally different and as yet, unwritten. I long to find a way to step beyond “us”es and “them”s into an understanding of “we” that helps people on all ’sides’ of issues work together. Yes, I dream of this. Sometimes it happens in small ways with ease, or in big ways with blood, sweat, and tears of hard work and joy: like moving my 2nd year’s 6th graders – 30-something kids from 6+ different countries and lots of layers in their young lives- toward 3.5 years of reading growth in a single school year. And sometimes, it doesn’t happen at all… i.e. a protest ends in violence, I see those I love claiming “HATRED toward all cops” or shouting “F***-you!” at an anti-abortion sign-holder; or I try to “work within a system” and am told, “you better plan to make some enemies if you’re going to get anything done…” and I weep over a historical and cultural framework that seems to have created nearly insurmountable obstacles toward living out that vision of “we”ness.

That’s where people like you, living their authentic selves and expressing that in the world, give me hope, Dave.

Your letter and blog entry is a breath of fresh air for me, a balm for the wounds of sadness. My intuition tells me that THIS kind of communication that you show here, my dear, is how healing our human family will take place, moment to moment, one being at a time.

~Katie