“Mozart’s music is so pure and beautiful that I see it as a reflection of the inner beauty of the universe.” ~ Albert Einstein.

Many years ago I attended a day of continuing education classes.  All nurses must complete a certain number of hours every two years, in order to renew their nursing licenses.  There are certain required topics, but then you can choose the rest yourself, so long as they are approved providers.  The day of classes that I attended were on the topic of women, on self-healing, on what you might call ‘alternative’ medicine and less conventional concepts.  It was during this day that I encountered a poem by Patricia Lynn Reilly entitled ‘Imagine a woman’.  The line that has stuck with me over the years is ‘Imagine a woman in love with herself…’

The poem is so self-affirming that I left it on the desk of a co-worker who had confided in me that she suffered from an eating disorder, and for years had struggled with hating her body (she was tall, and wished she were petite).  She told me later that the poem had helped her regain her footing on a lifelong journey of self-acceptance.  Which made me wonder why we women (in particular) are so prone to needing these affirmations?

It is fascinating to compare (and I am going to generalize wildly here) the male and female of our human species.  Men (in general) exude supreme confidence in their own attractiveness, overlooking any extra pounds or other negatives, and feel perfectly capable of holding the attention of any passing beauty.  Meanwhile, the passing beauty is so aware of her perceived flaws that she is self-consciously assuming everyone else sees them also.

I once read of a research study which had women walk past a stranger to go into a room.  Once in the room they were asked to rate their own appearance.  Meanwhile, the stranger in the outer room was asked to state what they had noticed about the woman.  The observed woman would describe her own flaws (my nose is too big, my complexion is not smooth) while the observer described something positive (she had a lovely smile, beautiful eyes, etc.).

The truth is that society teaches women that we are held to a high standard, and judged harshly for missteps.  Young women who are confident and self-assured are deemed arrogant, while young men who demonstrate the same attributes are admired, seen to be going places.  We already know how harsh public opinion can be about the female voice versus the male voice.  Is it any wonder most of us females still hold onto negative feelings about our outward appearance, our demeanor even as we age?

In the current political climate we are watching a contest play out between two contrasting people, one male, one female; one white, one from a bicultural, biracial background; one born to privilege, one born to parents who migrated to this country and struggled to get a foothold in the American dream.  But there are even deeper contrasts philosophically, and we all know that if the ‘biracial’, female candidate had half the flawed history of the male, white candidate, she would never have made it on the stage in the first place.

We have, over the past eight weeks or so, seen a possibility of a country where we accept each other and treat each other better.  A country which embraces its complicated history, which acknowledges the wrongs it has perpetrated on others and begins to redress the injustices.  A country which celebrates the diversity of the population, and appreciates the gifts that we all bring to the melting pot.  Meanwhile we are still listening to the lies and dangerous disinformation which is spread by those wishing to lead the country.  It is hard to reconcile the fact that there are those who espouse the Christian faith who follow such cruel dogma, do they not remember the words of the New Testament ‘…inasmuch as ye do it to the least of these my brethren…’or even much simpler, the admonition to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself’.

In a world that is full of such natural beauty, we need reminding that we are all a part of this amazing world.  There is nothing so painful as listening to the hateful rhetoric that is spewed against anyone deemed as ‘other’ by those currently wishing to lead the country, those who seem to believe that America is supposed to look one way, speak with one (racist) voice, and follow one religion.  Again, a knowledge of the history of this country should remind us all that there is much that is wrong in such an ethnocentric view of the world, one which led to violent oppression of those who were living here long before Columbus (or any other European pirate) arrived on the shores.  Such an unjust ethnocentric view of the world led to the enslavement of over 12 million Africans who were transported to the Americas and the Caribbean in subhuman conditions, and treated as less than human for over three hundred years.

In the years since the abolition of slavery, the unjust treatment of those not of European ancestry has been perpetuated in many ways, up to and including the present time.  There are still horror stories of the unfair treatment of people of color by those in authority (even football celebrities can be thrown on the ground by the police for an alleged minor traffic violation).  There are any number of mothers who have had to live with the tragic loss of their sons (or daughters) due to trigger happy men in authority who shoot first and ask no questions. 

It is time for us all to imagine a new possibility, a country of fairness, of justice, of inclusion of all in the conversation.  Imagine a world where all children can live up to their potential, without wondering whether the color of their skin will be a barrier to fair treatment; where immigrants can be welcomed and included in the discussion, despite their accents; where those who don’t follow the so-called ‘normal’ path can be themselves and love who they love, without fear of being chased or subject to hate-crimes. 

In these charged and polarized times, it is up to us to demand the world we wish to imagine.  It is up to us to stand up for those who are being ‘otherized’ and remind everyone that we are all members of the human race, we all appeared here as an accident of birth, without being given the choice of what sex, race, country or even parents we belonged to.  We should all keep in mind the saying that ‘there, but for the grace of God, go I’.

This Friday morning I hope that you can see your own inner beauty and let it shine in the world.  I hope that, if you are fighting with a tendency to be too harsh on yourself you can imagine yourself as part of a loving, accepting society, one which holds each other in high esteem, beginning with yourself.  And reach out to your Haitian friends, they need to be reminded that we value their hard work, their work ethic, their family values and their contribution to the greater American society.  We are better than this.

Have a wonderful weekend, Family!

One Love!

Namaste.