Yesterday, I began to notice a shift in my Facebook news feed… Perhaps it was subtle… perhaps not… whichever, I felt it… Less anger and pointing fingers… more love and coming together…
I saw posts of police officers and African Americans hugging… talking… supporting each other… I saw marches – not so much in protest – but as a call for change… (There is a huge difference in the two.) I saw beautiful videos which transcended “color”… (“I’m not a color. I’m me.”)… reclaiming the fact that beneath it all, we’re human beings... This is a shift… more people coming together… regardless of role, race or surface level difference… joining as human beings… joining through love…
One thing, I really love about Facebook is the “evolution” I’m privy to. If I can hang in there long enough… and not only bear the opinions and perspectives vastly different than my own… but listen… really hear where people are coming from… something, many times, shifts within me… I had one of those moments this morning…
I’ve been advertising my book, the Tea Room, on Facebook… and there are times when someone not only clicks on the ad… but likes it… or shares it… Many times, I’m curious about who the person is… This morning, I tapped on the picture of someone who had shared the ad… and up pops the Facebook page of an African-American woman from Detroit, Michigan… I noticed immediately her page was primarily African-Americans… and as I scrolled down the posts… I came across one posted by an African-American male in regard to his son… The child was about 3 (I’m not very good at guessing ages.), sitting cross-legged, his head slightly bowed, and his hands held in front of his face in a prayer position… Evidently, that morning, as his dad was getting ready to leave, the little boy said, “I love you… Please be careful.” This, of course, deeply moved his father… as well as others who responded to the post.
All the posts I read in response to this post were by African-Americans… For me, it was like being a fly on the wall… listening to a conversation I would never be privy to otherwise… It was incredibly authentic… the concerns… the pain… the fear… the confusion over how to handle the circumstances which were no longer bearable… Perhaps for the very first time, I felt it… I felt what they were feeling… and I understood from a totally different place… from a human place… a heart place… This was an incredible gift…
I sense the shift I felt within me… is the same shift I felt in the collective as I perused my Facebook news feed. This is a shift from fighting for our own perspective as the only truth… to understanding that each of us has a perspective… a perspective created by our own experiences… and therefore, indisputable. We cannot argue or debate another’s experiences. We can only persevere to understand… That’s the only way we can transcend the challenges presented by uniqueness… and move toward real and inclusive solutions, together.
Much love,
Karrie
Wonderful blog post, moved me. I finished Tea Room, now Melona is reading it, thanks so much. I did not find one typo either, very rare.
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