Glory to Glory
March 7, 1965, Bloody Sunday, Selma, Alabama. This bridge was the scene of great violence and hate as civil rights workers risked their lives for the right to vote. Bloody Sunday was the conclusion of a march from Montgomery to Selma, Alabama to protest the continuous oppression of black voters in the South. Today, I can see the ghost of those courageous people who stood up, arm in arm, and said, "No more." Looking at this decaying bridge today, I see every one of us fighting for the freedom to live our lives without the fear that we are not good enough, smart enough, or special enough because we don't have the money to keep up with the rising costs of staying alive.
I see a vision of all of humanity hoping and praying for a better world as we feel more and more discouraged by the state of global climate change, political infighting, unequal distribution of wealth, and the loss of values that were supposed to be guiding us to glory.
For those of us who visited Disneyland way back when, we believed that our future would be the one depicted in Tomorrowland. A better world, technology that took care of us and our world, It was an exciting adventure into the best of what we hoped the future would look like We sensed cooperation and respect and believed our world was on its way to advancing in fairness for all with the tenets of humane treatment and respect.
That Tomorrowland did not materialize. We are still divided, rich, poor, race against race, many hungry, angry and scared. We still see waring against each other being told there is never enough of anything to go around. Our future is more uncertain than ever. No Disney or Universal would charge admission to see the world we are living in today. Dystopialand would only be created and visited by the very sick of heart.
But there is a bright spot, a flicker of change that is growing into a flame that is getting stronger every day. What is that flame? More and more of us are making it our mission to become better human beings. With the melding of science and spirituality, we are learning to understand that those ancient concepts of love, compassion, and human dignity, which are buried deep in our souls, are being relit.
We have the power over our own minds to replace hate and fear with love and respect, not only for ourselves but for everyone. It is our understanding that unhealthy mental constructs live inside us from ancient assumptions, national cultures, early childhood caregivers, and the social classes we were born into. We have a choice to be who we want to be without accepting the massively scary scenarios pumped into our brains by the media every day.
We can live from our own inner goodness. We can. Many people around the globe are choosing to discipline their minds to question the validity of their beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and choices. We are coming together to dialogue, pray and take responsibility for our own lives no matter what we are being told by those profiting from divisiveness and sensationalism. Critical thinking is returning and we are asking ourselves if our deepest beliefs serve us or world in general.
More and more of us are beginning to live by the values of our hearts. When the heart is ruling the mind, our world changes. We are feeling our innocence again which has been buried by trauma and tradition. We don't want to live on antidepressants. We don't want to feel less than others. We don't want to judge ourselves as failures when we have less things or money that the mega rich who are paraded in front of us as the norm. We want to live from love and self-acceptance because we intuitively know that's where our true happiness is to be found.
"Glory when the war is won, it will be ours."
Listen to this song with an open heart and you will know that each one of us must be responsible for creating a fair, just, and beautiful world. Will you join me as we walk across this bridge together with our heads held high marching for a better world for all?
Listen to the song Glory" written by John Legend for the movie Selma at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUZOKvYcx_o