This week, I've been sad.

Elder Meditation by Kat Robinson given on Sunday, August 20, 2017.
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This week, I’ve been sad.  You see I am a UVA graduate.  I love Charlottesville.  I love how the serpentine walls wind across the grounds.  I love standing in front of the Rotunda, time traveling.  In case you are wondering, yes, I would have been in the crowd with dear friends by my side walking to demonstrate my belief that hate cannot win.  But right now, in this moment,  I confess that it feels like it did win...at least for a while.
 
I am sad that our public gaze has been pulled into a world of non-tolerance and hate once again.  It hurts. 
 
Yes, we need to have conversations re: race and our history.  Yes, we need to look at our present in the full light of what we’ve seen this week.  We cannot separate ourselves.  We have to figure this out.  No, I will not think that we cannot move forward.  No, I will not settle for a quiet peace.  I want a loud, joyous peace.  I want strong handshakes and hugs.  I want boisterous laughter and I want committed movement toward justice.  I want to share the table with my friends...black. Jewish, white...all of them.
 
It has been a sad week and it got harder.  I believe in signs.  A few weeks ago, I woke from a dream sweating.  My dream took place in front of the tram at SeaTac airport.  The tram doors opened and out walked my mother.  She stared straight at me and said "I'm looking for your dad".  Later that morning, I called my sister and shared my dream.   I called Dad more frequently.  My sister visited him 3 times in the past 5 weeks.  This morning my brother-in-law called to share that my Dad had passed away. 
 
Perhaps you believe in signs also.  Perhaps you don't.  I don't know, but here's something I know...everyone hurts.  Sometimes hurt happens in a very public fashion, sometimes it's in the quiet as the morning wakens.  Hurt is hurt.  To move forward, we have to acknowledge that people are hurting in ways that may not be seen, may not be acceptable, may not be productive.  Perhaps if we acknowledge the hurt, we can begin to move forward.
 
As we walk on our paths this week, let us acknowledge where we see pain, so that we can better address how we are all hurting.
God bless us and the world around us as we move forward.