Sister, Brother, Aunt, Uncle

The fires on the west coast keep raging, and I can’t begin to imagine the scope of destruction and suffering that they are causing.

My heart starts to ache and my brain shuts down. Too much, it reasons. Too much to process right now.

—-

A few evenings ago, I noticed the sun as it was setting. I took the photo you see above.

While nowhere near as dramatic as images taken from California or Washington, our view of the sun is obscured by smoke and ash …. smoke and ash that has blown thousands of miles from those fires on the west coast.

It feels surreal (though that word is becoming trite in 2020).

I cannot help but pause each day now as I see the sun in the morning and evening, resting like a fuzzy round rose petal in the sky.

I pause and consider how interconnected we are. Events happening so very far away are influencing what I see in front of me.

And I wonder - what would our neighborhoods and societies look like if we were able to remember this all of the time?

What would our lives look like if we fully understood

that everything we think and do influences other humans, animals, and life itself and

that the suffering of one person, even far away from us, creates an ache within us (whether or not we choose to feel it) and

that the joy of one person, even far distanced from us, creates a spark of life within us (whether or not we choose to feel it)?

Would you choose your actions and words differently if you felt this connection with each person?

As Author Valerie Kaur so beautifully says (and practices):

In order to love others, see no stranger. We can train our eyes to look upon strangers on the street, on the subway, on the screen, and say in our minds, “Brother, sister, aunt, uncle.” And when we say this, what we are saying is, “You are a part of me I do not yet know. I choose to wonder about you. I will listen for your stories and pick up a sword when you are in harm’s way.”

To my brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles suffering from fires, toxic air, illness, racist oppressions, loss, …. suffering of any kind … I listen for your stories. I hold you in my heart.

May all beings be free from suffering.