The house is on fire with rage, bullets and blood,
with petty crimes harshly punished,
with innocent men locked up or killed.
The house is on fire with innocent children in wretched schools,
with angry boys toting guns to protect themselves because their fathers can’t from prison,
with mothers who work so hard only to be able to barely feed and shelter their families.
The house is on fire with politicians and preachers proclaiming what is right
with mansions cleaned by people who work harder and listen better
with laws and beliefs touted that grow and spread oppression.
The house is on fire with courage long overdue to take its stand,
with voices too long silenced,
with hearts too long aching.
THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE AND IT WILL BURN UNTIL THINGS CHANGE
I am an ordinary human, a citizen, a woman, mother, wife, daughter, sister and friend. I didn’t really know where to begin to make changes. Then I read a post on Medium written by someone who has long been deeply involved in making changes for decades. Research has been done and there are lots of ways to improve things. You can read findings and a well researched report about it here.
What Am I doing to bring change?
My first career centered around positive communication and instilling in others a sense of self-worth. In my current role, I have open conversations with my daughter about the fact that people have been hurt, even lost their lives. Lots of people are angry. Not everyone has been treated kindly, just because they look different. Isn’t that sad. We wrote a letter to the Floyd family. She expressed wishing she could give Mr. Floyd a hug…and I wept. I wept out of sorrow she can’t hug a man she knows was hurt/ I wept with hope for the world she will help shape. With such sentiments, our world will find more love, less hatred.
Admittedly, I have felt very angry recently. I have felt incredibly sad. I have felt helpless at moments, and empowered at others. I am shaping my approach. I value and utilize my freedom to vote. I continue to appreciate the freedom of press in our country and read and support and believe journalists. I read a variety of press to try to get a well-rounded picture. I write my politicians and sign petitions. I write stories to spread joy, peace and love. I teach my children to see and treat everyone kindly and respect people’s differences. I take deep breaths…a lot. I read and listen to learn what I don’t yet know. There is SO much. I guess I already work for this cause, but there is clearly much more to be done.
I still need to reach out to my local leaders: starting with my mayor and Police Chief to learn what they are doing to be a part of solving this long engrained tragedy of racism. I need to hold them accountable for what they do or don’t do. I need to give them a chance to be transparent, thanked for what they are doing well, and honest about where there is room for growth.
We each have our own part to do. One person can only do so much, and yet one person can do a lot.
You don’t have to fix the whole world today.
But do ask yourself, what am I doing? Let’s all start with a deep breath.
claim to do this to become more of the person we want to be, hence the countless jokes and unused, but newly acquired gym memberships (you may want to check out 
Tony Robbins says that “goals are like magnets. They’ll attract that which makes them come true.” I think that for big dreams you really desire, this is true. Sure, plenty of resolutions get easily dropped. When you start really forming a plan, make some investment and talk about (the research actually says regularly report on) your goal, my experience and that of many people is that dreams come to fruition- and the supporters we need arrive to help us on the way.
I can absolutely attest to this being my experience. After a flow of encouragement and what looked to be an easy transition, I’m currently enjoying the resistance and challenging muck * of setting off on a new career. Most of these elements are my own mental barriers (fear, procrastination, feeling overwhelmed with all the learning and to-do’s). Don’t we all do this? Hence why a little mindfulness and meditation (a.k.a being aware of my thoughts and moving to the next stage of accepting, dismissing or countering them with a new idea) are key.
It Just Dawned On Me...Again 