Yesterday Hounddog wrote a diary about Archbishop Desmond Tutu's remarks condemning discrimination based on sexual orientation. It is a good diary and worth reading if you haven't yet had a chance to do so. But the reason I bring it up is because of the pictures in the diary and comments section of Desmond Tutu with the Dalai Lama; delightful pictures that speak to the joy of being human.
And yesterday our Daily Kos community was once again torn apart, this time over whether a certain congressperson should resign. With the spread of breaking news, positions were quickly and forcefully taken, and the ensuing exchanges were heated and emotional. Basic dharma; attachment causes suffering.
It is a quiet morning here today; the windows are open, and the air is cool and still. A deep peace pervades this space and this moment. It is a peace that is available to us at any time, as it is our true nature.
Over time, we develop stories about people; and those stores are brought front and center in our minds, and appended, when we read or see something about a particular person. There are representatives in congress for whom we have high regard, for we have seen the stands that they have taken on various issues, stands similar to our own on issues important to us; we have seen them do good work. When two of those people, for whom our community has generally high regard, are suddenly divided by events, we tend to react; we react based on our stories about those people, and we react based on our perceptions of the flow of events.
With the breaking of yesterday's news stories and the call for resignation and the determined position to not resign, the Kos community was quickly divided. It is understandable that we react. These are people that we hold in high regard; people that have done good work and are strong forces for bringing about change that benefits our world.
But the people with whom we are having such heated and emotional exchanges, are also people who have done good work, and who together are a strong force for bringing about beneficial change. We can understandably see breaking news in different ways, depending upon our own unique stories about people and events. But that need not divide us; we do not have to angrily tear our community apart when we react to breaking news.
Within each of us there is a profound peace, a stillness, a heart of compassion, a deep and abiding connection to our earth and its people. We can call upon this peace at any time, for it is our true nature. This joyfulness of being is seen in the pictures of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama. From this center, we can effectively work together, grow together, as a community. When breaking news hits, when our stories about people and events start driving us to react, when we feel that reaction coming on, we can pause, we can breathe, we can find that place of peace within us, and we can respectfully and compassionately work together to get through these events.
These are my thoughts on this particular Sunday morning, hints of the morning sun shining through the trees, leaves dancing on a soft breeze.
Please feel free to use this diary as an open thread for DKos Sangha. If you have any thoughts on how we can make this group more useful, please share them. If you are interested in joining the group, please send me a message. Thanks, and enjoy your day.