A Love Letter
Dear Friends,
In the wake of a divided UK and the very real parallel movements occurring in Europe and in the US: a love letter.
Our country, our society, our culture is on the verge of splitting into pieces. From seemingly abstract politics right down to you and me - people we went to school with, old and new friends, even members of our families. I keep witnessing conversations about ideas and beliefs spiral into full blown hatred. I see anger, I see hurt, I see sadness. And I see those feelings deepening, and with them grows the distance between us.
It is so easy to let that distance grow, when you are hurting and angry, to say the other is stupid, ignorant, elitist, bigoted, corrupt, immoral...etc and write them off. Gosh, is it easy to be angry. And understandable, given the current state of things.
I am sitting here writing this and I am so angry. I am angry at you for getting angry with each other. For calling each other names. For being so divisive and oppositional and downright stubborn that very real, very scary decisions are being made, and people everywhere are suffering.
It is scary, it is frustrating, it is so saddening. I think we can all agree that THIS SUCKS. But I don’t want to be angry. In my righteous anger at everyone for being angry I am no better at all. I ostracize the lot of you for very real and valid feelings.
And I don’t want that. Because I love you. And I need you. Because I am scared. I am terrified of where we might let our anger take us.
I understand how much this all matters to all of you, how deep and important your beliefs are. And that means so much to me. I love you so much. I mean that, because I love human beings. I can’t explain it, and you might think I’m crazy, but you can’t help who you love. I just do.
So I’m trying to figure out a way to start reconnecting, to start bridging the divide. And I have one idea: let’s start with “man, this sucks”. This sucks for you, this sucks for me, this sucks for a whole heap of people. We can connect on this. “This sucks,” one little string connecting me to you. Suddenly, with that one little string we have a common purpose: “let’s make this suck less”. And it is amazing what can be done with a common purpose.
I want to try to make this suck less. So I have written this love letter to you, to say something when usually I would keep quiet, in order to put forth a string with the hope that it might connect us. If we can connect with this string, then others can too, and then maybe we can change the nature of the conversation.
In the wake of a divided UK and the very real parallel movements occurring in Europe and in the US: a love letter.
Our country, our society, our culture is on the verge of splitting into pieces. From seemingly abstract politics right down to you and me - people we went to school with, old and new friends, even members of our families. I keep witnessing conversations about ideas and beliefs spiral into full blown hatred. I see anger, I see hurt, I see sadness. And I see those feelings deepening, and with them grows the distance between us.
It is so easy to let that distance grow, when you are hurting and angry, to say the other is stupid, ignorant, elitist, bigoted, corrupt, immoral...etc and write them off. Gosh, is it easy to be angry. And understandable, given the current state of things.
I am sitting here writing this and I am so angry. I am angry at you for getting angry with each other. For calling each other names. For being so divisive and oppositional and downright stubborn that very real, very scary decisions are being made, and people everywhere are suffering.
It is scary, it is frustrating, it is so saddening. I think we can all agree that THIS SUCKS. But I don’t want to be angry. In my righteous anger at everyone for being angry I am no better at all. I ostracize the lot of you for very real and valid feelings.
And I don’t want that. Because I love you. And I need you. Because I am scared. I am terrified of where we might let our anger take us.
I understand how much this all matters to all of you, how deep and important your beliefs are. And that means so much to me. I love you so much. I mean that, because I love human beings. I can’t explain it, and you might think I’m crazy, but you can’t help who you love. I just do.
So I’m trying to figure out a way to start reconnecting, to start bridging the divide. And I have one idea: let’s start with “man, this sucks”. This sucks for you, this sucks for me, this sucks for a whole heap of people. We can connect on this. “This sucks,” one little string connecting me to you. Suddenly, with that one little string we have a common purpose: “let’s make this suck less”. And it is amazing what can be done with a common purpose.
I want to try to make this suck less. So I have written this love letter to you, to say something when usually I would keep quiet, in order to put forth a string with the hope that it might connect us. If we can connect with this string, then others can too, and then maybe we can change the nature of the conversation.
Any thoughts, feelings, or strings about this are so, so welcome.
With love,
Jess
With love,
Jess
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