Is this a divine ‘Time Out’ to interrupt our fraying
and help us to find our footing?
Twelve weeks into my first ever pandemic I am conforming to new expectations, reinventing how I work and relate, and finding ways to be relevant and contributing. For the most part I have observed that individuals have been thoughtful, conscientious, and even heroic in their selflessness to help one another. It is our ‘pulling together moment’. And yes, I have witnessed some ‘pulling apart’ moments as well; moments when good people act out when the stress of this endurance race of the pandemic life overwhelms them. And yes, I have witnessed selfish and dangerous behavior in response to the restrictions that we all are experiencing. I try not to judge. I empathetically accept the light and dark sides of our human condition.
But in this twelve week time period, a rock so large has landed on our collective shoulders and we as a nation are grappling with what to do. The rock I speak of is the rock of inequity, the rock of exclusion, and the rock of intolerance. Some feel the weight of the rock more than others. Yet this week, in our nation we all witnessed a murder. It was not the first unwarranted death and there have been more since Mr. Floyd of Minneapolis was killed by law enforcement when he was subdued and begging for help.
I wasn’t certain that I should write about this event because we are so inflamed that even well intentioned words are misconstrued. I am not an expert in race relations. As a woman I have experience my own kind of oppression — discrimination and sexual imposition. But I do not know the experience of being black or brown or a racial minority. I cannot know what this life feels like every day. But I can listen. I can learn. And I can speak up when I see injustice, inequity, intolerance, and exclusion.
During the strangest time in my adult life when we need to social distance, we are experiencing an inflection point where we can choose to shoulder the rock, show up, speak up, and create safe spaces for conversations that need to happen. Despite social distancing we can come together around a very complex, historical, human condition that we could embrace with a fresh willingness to struggle together to find a path forward that improves life for all.
I have been writing that the pandemic can either be an event that weakens us or an event through which we grow stronger and emerge better. I feel strongly that this moment to choose better now involves remaking our world as the pandemic is requiring us to do. That remaking can include emerging out of the collapse with having faced the deepest wounds of our nation – our struggle with being a nation where all men and women having been created equal are equal in all opportunities. It means to look at every system, every premise upon which we have built ourselves as being able to change, adapt, and improve. It means wrestling with our collective values and determining what we stand for and what we will no longer tolerate. It is not an issue of party politics as we have all colluded silently for too long. It is an issue of leadership.
Our nation is young compared to other nations and civilizations. We are still in our adolescence. This is an opportunity to evolve and deepen our maturity. It is a time for us to look at our own internal landscapes and decide who we are to be.
I have little influence over what happens at a national level but to voice my observations/opinions and to vote. I do have influence over my own behavior, my household, my business, and my interactions every day.
I have spent the week advocating that my clients courageously create a safe space to invite their employees to share their feelings and needs. I believe it is important to let our workforce and our clients know what values influence our actions. To say nothing at this time could be experienced as a statement in itself.
We are living in a time when it is so important to observe and listen to other people’s boundaries. I find it easy to flex to what another person needs from me (wearing my mask while walking outdoors) versus needing to assert my needs. I understand my part in the whole. I believe in abundance versus scarcity, in sharing power and collaborating versus welding power over other people. I have confidence I am not diminished by putting the needs of the ‘we’ before the needs of me. If we find a way to take care of all of us, I trust that my needs will be represented. I embrace the natural strength provided by having diversity. I want to live in a more just and equitable world.
We are experiencing the cracks in our human systems – it is time for our character to rise and unify.
Leslie
“We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty
and the Pursuit of Happiness”