I am open and I am willing
To be hopeless would seem so strange
It dishonors those who go before us
So lift me up to the light of change
There is no reason to participate in life. No law that says we must. I find that astounding. In the face of the challenge, the mystery, the dangers, we can refuse. And yet humans get up every day to find food, to create shelter, to care for children, to imagine possibilities. We create belief systems to give us guidance. We are willing to die for those beliefs, beliefs we created! Some of those beliefs reflect Genghis Khan, some reflect Gandhi, and some reflect the healers, the witches of change. Regardless of the condition into which we are born, we start to make decisions. It takes courage to admit we choose to participate. Stunning. We live on a planet that is spinning through space at an unimaginable rate of speed and courtesy of gravity, we do not fly off into space. Here for such a short while, whether a day or a century, still a short time. And how do we want to participate? The answer to that question, moment by moment, defines my life. I come from enough economic and race privilege that I could coast along. I imagine someone born into poverty can also choose to coast, to starve. But most don’t. My life has been enhanced by following fascination rather than fear. Get up when I fall down. Curiosity has been my friend. Bothering to walk outside and look up, I sometimes see the moon. Stuck in traffic, I see a tennis court with four people of color playing tennis and I am struck by the knowledge that it took a civil rights movement. I want to be part of that.
Holly Near is a singer and storyteller who, through her music, is committed to a more equitable world. www.hollynear.com
For Every Jewel There is a Question:
Do you believe you were put on this earth for a reason?