Excerpts of Hope
Navigating Political Uncertainty
Letters to Home from a foreign land
Brooklyn, NY
To my brother in Harlem, New York
Despite it all, I am so filled with gratitude and love for life. It’s easy to forget the good when you are surrounded by so much bad. There is so much hardship in the world right now. And for this, my heart goes out to you. I wish I could be closer physically. Even if just for familial comfort, but since I cannot, I write to remind you that there is so much more out there than the container society put you in. There is so much wonder in the world. Light matched by darkness. The world is an imperfect place, but we choose what we see.
My hope for you, dear brother, is to choose to see the light. To keep your mind open, continue to be a seeker of love and truth in the world. Go places, explore, soak in experiences and to allow yourself the pleasure to enjoy life. To enjoy each and every stage of life because you may only get this one and I wish you all the happiness that can be squeezed out of it.
The world is heavy right now; I feel it, too.
I wish I could give you a hug (for my benefit as much as yours) but words are all we have now. I hope you can feel these words drenched in love. I know you’re in the thick of it right now, but there’s a world out there waiting for your unique touch. Wherever in the world you go, whether you end up in Pennsylvania or Hong Kong, someone out there is benefiting from your presence. Hell, all the way across the world I know I am.
What I mean to say by all this is essentially: life won’t always be this heavy, that things have a way of working themselves out, and you never really know where you’ll end up. So don’t worry too much.
To my family and community at large back home
I fight with the guilt of distance between myself and you all; between myself and the rising political uncertainty in the States. No distance in the world, however, can keep me from the collective consciousness. No distance can keep me from holding space and joining in a united front. Change starts from within. This is what I believe. And what I have to offer here is the same that I’d be able to offer anywhere in the world: love.
Credit: NBC
All we can do is take care of ourselves and each other. In such polarizing times, remember what holds us together, what keeps us rooted in the same existence. It’s through the practical and pragmatic that we maintain a functioning society. We must take care. To pick up the kids from school, fuel our bodies with nourishment, partake in loving conversation, earn a living. The frequency we vibrate at during our day-to-day, even through the mundane, matters.
We understand the word
/ po·lar·ize /
to mean a sharp contrast and divide in beliefs and opinions. It is clear this is happening right now. But it also means to restrict the vibrations in one direction. Fighting too hard, pushing too hard in one direction, disturbs the actual frequency of life. It’s no wonder people all across the world are feeling the effects of the hostile environment of one of the world’s superpowers.
So I am here and you are there. I am me and you are you. Languages differ, skin tones vary, but we can choose to come together as one. To acknowledge that we are living different variations of the same experience. The way we persist, the way we break through to the other side, is by first acknowledging this.
