Voices That Echo

Where is Mother Theresa when you need her? Who is the next Martin Luther King, Jr., and when are they coming? If I set the table, will the next martyr, please show up? I'm afraid we are heading towards World War 3; wars begin at least a generation before a series of catastrophic events occur in succession, only to be viewed as causes, in hindsight. Let's all take a minute to breathe.

All things considered, there is only one concern: humanity. Physical health does affect mental health, and many people have been ill this year. Many people have been isolated; many people have suffered loss. Fuses are shorter and emotionally stable people are a finite resource, and they are also feeling drained. I want to help the world; I want the world to know that it can help itself.

The most important quality in a leader, is being a humanitarian, with a healthy balance of power and love. Power without compassion is tyrannical, and love without power is a hallmark card. It's time for everyone to show up for each other, and also, to stand up for themselves, but speaking up is not saying whatever comes to mind. The most significant problem with the last Parent of The United States, was the unfiltered, belligerent example he displayed. Way to make it cool to be a raging douchebag. Whatever "good" may have occurred, was entirely neutralized by demagoguing our country, you opened Pandora's Box.

We do get to choose what we do with our trauma. Trauma is powerful, it can be an effective tool for compassion. The source of my pain in abandonment, neglect, verbal abuse, physical abuse. Recovering from pain is a life-long process, but it starts with the first step, which is to have compassion for yourself. Speaking up against violence against you is hard, start by speaking up against it for others, because helping others is often easier than it is to help yourself. Sometimes we don't know our friends needed us, because they haven't found their voice yet. Speaking up about what happened to you, inspires others to say, "me too".

Sharing pain is like adding trusses to a bridge; strength in numbers for our shared experiences builds compassion and connection. When someone is yelling, or fighting; this is sad, it is NOT exciting. The news is sad, it is NOT exciting, a significant portion is not even true. The negative speculation becomes a self-fulling prophecy, until the bandwagon fallacy breaks, and the world tears itself apart like Stephen King's movie "Needful Things".

Let's initiate a challenge, a real one, with a goal. Let's call it "Nobel Peace Prize", and hope the next martyr speaks up. Like Martin Luther King, Jr., he struggled to keep going and had his own moments of doubt, but then something would happen, a voice, or a dream and he would know he needed to do, even if it wasn't what he wanted. Imagine if he hadn't been encouraged at the right moment to think "I would rather die, than live in fear". Imagine if he hadn't been assassinated; the death of a man with purpose, sets his name in stone and he lives forever, but I feel like the world has forgotten what for.

The goal of this prize should be to bring awareness to peace, compassion and connection. Writers have a lot to offer the world. I started writing because no one would listen, but I never shared because I was afraid of hurting people's feelings, when they realized how much they hurt my feelings, or worse, they read it and still didn't. I write because I still can't say it out loud. I'm afraid that people I love will find out that I'm broken, but after I share, I've found they don't think I'm broken, they think I'm healed, and they want to know how I made it. They want to know how I keep going.

I started sharing stories when I was 19, exclusively by talking to strangers I would meet on my solo travels across the country. It was safe, because I never had to see them again, but everyone I shared something with, would tell me they had a similar story. I started to feel like my stories helped people, but I didn't start writing them down with the intention to eventually share until I was 32, and even then, I was afraid. I developed a character, like a pen name. I talked about him in my first story I published, which is a fictional depiction of the truth. Metaphors are a beautiful language to speak the truth.

I have a dream too. My dream is that everyone may find their way through their struggles. Remember, not just anyone could survive what you did, and you did. The struggle through pain will pass and what you learned will remain. You can do anything, especially the impossible, trying can feel impossible. I promise, you can breathe underwater in your dreams, any everything is possible in time.