If not now, when?

George Floyd will never know another moment of now because his last breath was for a greater cause.

George, like Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King, has gone down in history for being instrumental in creating change for black people. 

Unlike the other three change-makers, George didn't get the chance to know this firsthand.

But his death, as well as the countless others recently, has created a new movement in our world.

One where we're finally getting the ultimate message.  

We are ONE.

It's time.

Our planetary nervous system, our beloved internet, now makes it possible for us to share the pain of any one of us, within seconds.

And we are all hurting.

And hurting people hurt other people.

Every black person you meet today, tomorrow and the day after, has a story. Indeed, they have many. Stories of being ignored, marginalized and treated differently, often with rudeness and disdain.

Based on bias and discrimination on the color of their skin.

I know, because I've dated many black men, and experienced it firsthand. As a white woman I always struggled to understand the unpleasant experiences we were having, until one day it dawned on me. I'm a white woman with a black man. My white privilege had never afforded me this experience when I dated white men. Never.

We may be living in a biological warfare with COVID 19, but I can tell you without a doubt, that we are also facing a pandemic of psychological warfare. More and more people are aware of the reality that we are extremely cruel to our own species in many ways, not the least of which is based on the color of skin.

We are better than this.

Only when the broken are healed, no matter what they have done, will we as a people heal.

~ Mark Nepo

Now comes the difficult part.

We all need healing.

We must bring love, empathy and forgiveness to everyone who's hurting, and only then can we begin to heal. 

And that includes the oppressors.

You may not like that I said that.

Because it's hard to believe we should do that. But we must.

We are one, and we are all in this together. 

I don't have all the answers, but I know one thing for sure. 

You'll never win a war with more war. At least not peacefully.

A man, distraught from his daughter's murder, comes to Ghandi during one of his hunger strikes saying he will stop fighting if Ghandi would end the hunger strike. Ghandi suggests the father forgive the man who killed his child. Even though the man collapses into tears, he does as Ghandi asks, and with this action, the greater conflict ended.

When will this end?

We must change the energy of ourselves first because underneath all anger is always sadness.

It's hard to do this on your own so I'm here to help.  

We must allow all emotions to be expressed from their true place, one of deep sadness, instead of hatred, condemnation and blame. And then let them go, because these low vibration energies do not change a single thing. All they do is bring more of the same.

It's time to feel what we feel and then let it go.

Then we can invite compassion, love and empathy for one another and this will raise our collective energy to one of healing, peace and harmony. 

And we must each seek to find the heart in each other, recognizing that when one bleeds, we all bleed. And that includes those who cause the bleeding.

This is the most difficult work of all, but this is the healing work that's needed. If you struggle with this, let me help you. 

I end my letter to you today with a prayer... a prayer that's universal. 

Where I send love from my heart to yours. 

And I pray for this healing energy to settle into your heart, landing with compassion and empathy and I pray for peace and love to find its way into our world, through my heart and your heart.

Namaste ~ "The Divine in Me Honors the Divine in You."

Gail