Daily Inspiration: “….look into your soul….”

Somehow, we need to do a better job in this world. We are failing people, we are failing society, we are failing ourselves.

If you have not read this post on Facebook – find it, read it, share it, and read it again. Work to understand it. You can search for the name “Shola M. Richards.” Read it now.

And then, look into the depths of your soul, and ask yourself some tough questions.

What do you see?

If you see darkness, find your light. If are guilty of hate, find your love. If you are full of fear, find your courage. If you are full of pain, seek your comfort through action. If you fear your ignorance, seek your knowledge. If you have failed to act, start to do what you can now. If you find yourself silenced, find your voice. If you see injustice, call it out. When you are filled with sadness, try to find your inspiration through action.

And if you are full of despair, find your hope.

And for the sake of the future of the world – if you didn’t vote – vote.

What if you are none of these? What if you are full of rage at the protestors in the streets, and seek a strongman to make your world great again?

What if your  goal is to make things great again, then redefine your ‘great.’

I’d ask you to look into the depths of your soul – examine the darkness within it, and struggle to find some light. If you are of a religion that has a God, ask yourself if the essence of the the message of that God was vile, extreme hate. If you hate your fellow man, ask yourself – how did your religion ever come to teach you that this was right?

Examine the darkness in your soul. If you chose a future that was based on a desire to make things great again, look into the depths of your soul and ask yourself – do you really think you accomplished it?

Have you helped to make the world a better place? One in  which dignity, empathy, respect, tolerance are the defining values of our time? Or one in which a man must now walk with his daughter simply not to be shot, attacked, beaten, degraded, humiliated, observed with suspicion.

Did you vote to make things great again? Because if did so, you one who is now complicit, who must share the guilt, and who must ultimately feel the pain of your failure as a dignified human. You must now bear the awful burden of being responsible for a rush to hate that will in the end will ultimately destroy your freedom, your nation, and ultimately, you. If you have a judgement day, you will be examined in the cold, harsh light of the facts of what you did, and what you didn’t do.

You are complicit.

Look into your soul.

Is it dark?

I’m a 61 year old white guy. I will never know the depth of pain that a father who must walk with his daughter in order to feel safe must feel inside.

There is not much I can do on my own to try to fix this crazy fucked up world, but I can try, through the small voice which I might sometimes carry with me through my day.