So much has been said about the detention, the internment of children in the past weeks. I do not have words, and that is hard for a writer to admit. Instead, I have been sitting with others' words.
You have to be able to
imagine lives that
are not yours.
Wendell Berry
In our daily patterns of loving, caring, and
working, we are following a spiritual path of
sorts, whether we are conscious of it or not.
The shape of our lives reflects our priorities
and ultimate values.
Christine Valters Paintner
An Invitation
What words are you sitting with now? I would love to know.
ReplyDeleteA SIKH PRAYER FOR AMERICA ON NOV 9, 2016
In our tears and agony, we hold our children close and confront the truth: The future is dark.
But my faith dares me to ask:
What if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb, but the darkness of the womb?
What if our America is not dead but a country still waiting to be born? What if the story of America is one long labor?
What if all the mothers who came before us, who survived genocide and occupation, slavery and Jim Crow, racism and xenophobia and Islamophobia, political oppression and sexual assault, are standing behind us now, whispering in our ear: You are brave? What if this is our Great Contraction before we birth a new future?
Remember the wisdom of the midwife:
“Breathe,” she says. Then: “Push.”
Now it is time to breathe. But soon it will be time to push; soon it will be time to fight — for those we love — Muslim father, Sikh son, trans daughter, indigenous brother, immigrant sister, white worker, the poor and forgotten, and the ones who cast their vote out of resentment and fear.
Let us make an oath to fight for the soul of America — “The land that never has been yet— And yet must be” (Langston Hughes) — with Revolutionary Love and relentless optimism. And so I pray this Sikh prayer:
Nanak Naam Chardi Kala,
Tere Bane Sarbat Da Bhalla
“In the name of the Divine within us and around us, we find everlasting optimism. Within your will, may there be grace for all of humanity.”
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh
Thank you so much for this. Yes, breathe and push.
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