“Where there is no vision, there is no hope.” ~ George Washington Carver.
Ever since I was young, I have had a tendency to ‘overthink’ things. Before any upcoming event, or before going to a new place, my mind will begin to imagine the event, more than anticipation, it is almost a way to plan for any eventuality. I have had to actively train myself out of this, as (you eventually learn) there is only so much of life that you control. And regardless of what you imagine, or plan for, life has its way of bringing you some completely different, and possibly even better, experience. I may not completely manage it in this lifetime, but for the next I plan to ‘go with the flow’. Much less exhausting!
Being able to be in the moment, to be totally present, is part of the act of mindfulness. When we are caught up in trying to control the future (or dreading some upcoming event), or obsessively relitigating some past event, we miss out on the beauty of each moment as we live through it. I remember, when my parents were still alive, my visits to that beautiful area of North Wales (mountain views from their bedroom window, across an estuary, round every country road drive). Part of my treat (apart from being off work, away from family responsibilities) would be to wander through a winding footpath to the nearest town, an ancient port (rumor has it that a Prince of Wales sailed to the US before Columbus, and to this day there is a remote Indian tribe that, they say, still has Welsh words in its language) and browse the shops in search of special treasures to take home as gifts.
It is one of the things about travel, this compulsion to go shopping for trinkets and souvenirs, which probably get pushed to the back of someone’s drawer. And yet at the time each item seems so special, so unique. I remember one year when visiting nieces and nephews in the UK, I proudly brought an assortment of those gourmet jellybeans as gifts, along with bouncy butterfly hair barrettes, only to find them for sale in one of the first shops I entered in the UK! Before globalization was a word!
But the very act of shopping for unique items is one of those activities that gives the traveler pleasure, an excuse to visit gift shops, to soak in the vibe and culture of the locale, and then to sit in a coffee shop and order some tasty cake or pastry that is unlike anything available ‘back home’. Once my shopping was done, I would take out each item to show my mother, and she would ooh and aah over each one, getting as much sensory pleasure as if she were the recipient.
It is a cliché, but true none-the-less, that travel broadens the mind. I credit most of my philosophy of life to being transplanted from a city in the UK to the heart of rural Jamaica when I was a child. Not only did it change the trajectory of my life, it permitted me a front row seat to a life of diversity, a life of appreciation of the culture and traditions of a people who looked (superficially) unlike my immediate family. And taught me each day that the superficial is just that, and that underneath the variety of complexions and racial features are hearts, minds and souls that share the same basic desires and values.
I have to remind myself of this when viewing particularly inhumane acts being perpetrated on people of color in these United States, on a daily basis. There are gut-wrenching videos sometimes not making it to cable news, but showing up on social media. And the acts are written into policy, not cruelty perpetrated by rogue actors who take things too far. As someone once wrote, the cruelty is the point.
So how do we stay alert, stay involved, stay engaged, when each day we hear more profane pronouncements coming from the very top. How do we not go numb? How do we not shake our heads and give up, weary, hopeless?
The wonderful thing is that there are, meanwhile, wonderful things happening. This week I heard about the ‘Mississippi Miracle’ (although those involved say there is nothing miraculous, it is a Marathon!) which has resulted in Mississippi having the largest gains in their literacy scores from the bottom (in 2013) to now being in the top tier. For fourth-graders, they moved from 49th in the nation to the top ten. High school graduation rates also improved, with almost 90% of students graduating. This all happened while in other states scores have been dropping. And it was done through sustained effort, through education (of the teachers) and accountability.
I have been thinking of the power of hope, as described by the poet Emily Dickenson as ‘the thing with feathers….that sings the tune – without the words – and never stops – at all.’ Hope differs from faith, which relies on belief, hope anticipates, and AI provided a nice comparison: “If faith is the foundation or the engine, hope is the horizon it looks towards”. But the scientist and inventor George Washington Carver (who was born enslaved) pointed out something crucial in the words quoted above: there must be a vision.
Although the Founding Fathers were flawed, and lord knows we have plenty of flawed men to go around, there was, in their vision, a hope for a new country, one in which ‘all men are created equal’. But we have to be prepared to do the work to make this so, to hold leaders accountable; to elect people who will put the interests of the population (not profits or their pockets) first; to walk the walk ourselves. This country, with its history of land grabs; oppression and murder; enslavement and discrimination, can only be great when it acknowledges this history and creates a new order, one which corrects injustices; makes reparations to all who were harmed; and treats all human beings with dignity regardless of country of origin, physical appearance, language spoken, religious beliefs.
In her recent speech to the United Nations, the PM of Barbados (what a woman, what a Leader!) recited the words of HRM Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, words that unfortunately are still necessary to be said today. In those words there is the vision of a world where ‘…basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race…’ So we do not need to fear that there is no vision, there is a vision, and there are people who are working towards it. And so we can look to that horizon with hope, even though the current storm clouds appear dark and impenetrable. We must hope.
On this Friday morning, I hope you too are filled with hope, with a belief that we will live to see a better world for our children and grandchildren.
Have a wonderful weekend, Family!
One Love!
Namaste.
