by Roger Mock
As I am typing this on the morning of a Presidential Inauguration (by the time I finish it will be a done deal), it feels as though I stand with my feet on separate sides of a fault line that is beginning to widen. Time to make a choice. Now. Love or fear. Hope or despair. Darkness or light. Which do I affirm? Of course I know which I would want to choose in each instance when it’s stated that way. You do as well. The question is, what am I really choosing in this moment, and in this moment and in the next?
You may not feel as uneasy as I do on this morning, but I think we all must see that our ship of state is now being steered into seriously uncharted territory. The canopy of trees above us is thickening and overgrown, darkening the path ahead and, um, what is that rushing sound in the distance? Seriously, do you hear that? That’s one direction my mind has been trying to pull me at times in these post-election days – into the murky shadows.
And yet, and yet – another sound begins to overtake the rumbling and tumbling of my imagined cataract. It’s the sound of voices raised in solidarity, a swelling chorus filled with hope and resolve, spirit and moxie. It’s the roaring of a lion stirred from its long slumber. And that’s where I am choosing to place my attention this morning.
It’s more of a lioness, actually. Tonight at around midnight my daughter and my daughter-in-law will drive a couple of hours to board a bus to Washington D.C. to join the Women’s March there with hundreds of thousands of other women and men. Their passion and willingness to be part of this defining moment gives me great hope and stirs my own resolve to find more ways to show up for equality, justice and inclusion in 2017 and beyond. So Emily and Allison – thank you for answering this call. Thank you each for being a light in this world, a “soul on deck,” and for standing up for what is good and right and just and loving. You give me hope and courage and you help to shift my attention from the shadows to an illuminated path.
One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires … causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these — to be fierce and to show mercy toward others, both — are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity.
Clarissa Pinkola Estés
And you know what? If the election had swung the other way, this wouldn’t be happening. And it’s what needed to happen. That lion that represents our active, concerned, engaged-with-reality, fierce-when-we-need-to-be self needs to be awake now. We were, as Ms. Estés wrote, made for these times.
love and light
Roger