{"id":633,"date":"2014-03-24T13:49:27","date_gmt":"2014-03-24T20:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nancymthurston.wordpress.com\/?p=633"},"modified":"2014-03-24T13:49:27","modified_gmt":"2014-03-24T20:49:27","slug":"grief-on-the-way-to-transformation-my-cell-phone-and-violence-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/24\/grief-on-the-way-to-transformation-my-cell-phone-and-violence-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Grief on the Way to Transformation: My Cell Phone and Violence #2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Teardrop\"<\/a>Why concern myself with human rights abuses in far away places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo? Why make connections between myself and the behavior of a long-ago king, the Belgium\u2019s colonial policies or missionaries\u2019 behavior when, although I personally am outraged by their behaviors, none of these people were my family members?<\/p>\n

Why think too much about the fact that materials for my cell phone and wedding ring may have involved injustice and ill treatment of others half way around the globe? For me, my cell keeps me connected to people I care about and my wedding ring is a symbol of a life-long love.<\/p>\n

I have no interest in collapsing in shame and despair. That is a dead-end street that feels lousy and helps no one.<\/p>\n

Yet, I am no longer willing to keep global horrors at arms length, grateful that since I don\u2019t approve I can wash my hands of any connection to things done by other humans, national and transnational corporations who produce the goods I buy, or \u201cmy people\u201d (which includes people who share my Euro-American roots, white skin, Christianity or wealth).<\/p>\n

Distancing myself from other\u2019s behavior makes it too easy for me to forget the deep historical roots of today\u2019s world events and the fact that I enjoy the benefits of things grown and produced under horrifying conditions.<\/p>\n

Maintaining that distance requires that I go back to sleep. That isn\u2019t an option for me anymore.<\/p>\n

However I can\u2019t, nor should I, shoulder the responsibility for all of these actions. Nevertheless, I can stop and grieve. Weep for violence and injustice\u2014for both victims and perpetrators. Let my heart break open for those who suffered and continue to suffer far outside my neighborhood.<\/p>\n

My personal grief and the world\u2019s grief meet in my heart. That is where I experience the truth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.\u2019s words, \u201cInjustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.\u201d1<\/p>\n

No defensiveness is needed. Only seeing. Grieving. Not getting stuck there, but also not bypassing my need to wail about tragic aspects of human behavior.<\/p>\n

Fear is fanned on every street corner and news show. Despair for the enormity of the environmental destruction and human inequity feels like it could easily undermine our capacity to cope with daily life.<\/p>\n

The only path I know of that moves toward transformation, runs right through the middle of grief. \u201cTo let ourselves feel anguish and disorientation as we open our awareness to global suffering is part of our spiritual ripening. \u2026 Out of darkness, the new is born.\u201d2<\/p>\n

Against all logic, this path leads me to joy and gratitude. Standing solidly in the center of both grief and joy, I find clarity about my place in the global world. I am prompted to continue to ask myself, \u201cWhat\u2019s next? What is my next step to further align my behavior with my values?\u201d Not from a place of despair, shame or over-responsibility but from a solid knowing of the interconnectedness of us all.<\/p>\n

Paradox again. I always return here. The more I can learn to hold grief and joy, the greater my capacity to live life fully in ways that serve us all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter from a Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963
\n2. Joanna Macy and Molly Young Brown. Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World (British Columbia: New Society Publishers, 1998) Pg 45<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why concern myself with human rights abuses in far away places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo? Why make connections between myself and the behavior of a long-ago king, the Belgium\u2019s colonial policies or missionaries\u2019 behavior when, although I personally am outraged by their behaviors, none of these people were my family members? Why … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Grief on the Way to Transformation: My Cell Phone and Violence #2”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,6,8,12,13],"tags":[92,149,160,173,176,199],"class_list":["post-633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ancestors","category-class","category-earth","category-justice","category-race","category-spirituality","tag-democratic-republic-of-the-congo","tag-joanna-macy","tag-letter-from-a-birmingham-jail","tag-martin-luther-king-jr","tag-molly-brown-young","tag-paradox"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancymthurston.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}