“Let’s conjure up, from the depth of our souls:
The truest, most beautiful lives we can imagine.
The truest, most beautiful families we can fathom.
The truest, most beautiful world we can hope for.”
~Glennon Doyle, Untamed, 2020
I have been lost. Succumbing to the undertow and being swept out to sea. The overt oppression, police violence, unkindness, greed and yes, the virus. The damn virus. I have stepped away from my passion, my calling because I am under siege by the virus. Finding the path through the storm, foraging forward and putting on a brave face as a provider in a health system that is being undermined for political gain.
When I read this quote by Glennon Doyle it called to me, in reality her book calls to us to rise above the social constructs and niceties that chain us down. She calls to me. To imagine in terms of love and light, not mired down in the despair of the known but to reach down into our soul to find the path forward. The beauty in what can be rather than what is. For a million reasons I have been buried in what is. From this point forward, I am taking back my power. I am making the conscious choice walk into the vision of what our world, our nation, my community can be.
Ironically much of the rhetoric of the moment is focused on dismantling social constructs that are chaining down those who are marginalized. Those benefiting from such ideals, beliefs and institutions are reluctant to relinquish their privilege, even if they are granted such privilege by stepping on the backs of those in their wake. So, when I imagine and work towards my truest, most beautiful….I find myself struggling with what is. What is, quite frankly, is really scary, sad and hard for the trans community.
My truest, most beautiful life and family does not include neighbors discussing whether my daughter can compete in sports against their kids. They are not discussing whether my child should have access to hormones. We don’t have to leave the public-school system because of fear, discrimination and lack of services for her learning difference. In my truly beautiful world authors with the power of the literary pen and leaders of countries do not use their power to legislate, discriminate, marginalize and oppress in the name of their racist agenda. The naysayers use words like socialism, communism and liberal which are all, ironically, social constructs that are being used to manipulate and pigeon-hole the believers into a winner-takes-all, us and them syndrome. That somehow by allowing in the beauty and light will somehow diminish theirs. When in fact, the synergy of positivity, inclusivity and togetherness will bring prosperity for us all.
It is through connection, affirmation and respecting our individual uniqueness that we appreciate the complexity of our human experience. For, without each piece of the puzzle, the whole is solitary and void of the abundant richness of our humanity.
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