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Monday, January 18, 2021

What it Means to Build Bridges

 "People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they have not communicated with each other." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

If anything is plaguing our society today, it is our inability to truly understand these beautifully wise and heartfelt words.

It takes courage to communicate.

It takes commitment to communicate.

It takes maturity to communicate.

It takes wisdom to communicate.

And communication is not a "one way" endeavor.  It requires that very rare skill: actually listening.

When we listen, we may discover some things that surprise us.  We don't need to completely agree, and there will always be those things we just can't quite comprehend.  Even so, we'll come closer to truth instead of illusion.

We are in a world of hurt right now.  Some of us seem to be celebrating the conflict - instead of genuinely doing the difficult work of understanding how it is happening.  Derision runs rampant, instead of love and humility.  And in places one might not expect.  This is very dangerous because that's what leads to cruelty.  We cannot allow our society to go down this perilous path.  Sometimes, there's no return for a society when that happens.  Who will assist us if we falter?

A long time ago, I did a lot of writing under the pseudonym BridgeBuilder.  In those days, discussion forums were common, and we were even encouraged not to use our real names.  One might think this would lead to some really horrible things, that relative anonymity.  Sometimes, I suppose it could, but more "mature" forums were moderated.   What it actually led to was true discussion.  Hearts would shift.  We came to care about one another.  We didn't need to agree.  We lost something, all of us, when this remarkable experience a number of us participated in fell away.  

At the time, I wrote something, and I may be stating it imperfectly now.  It used to be a part of my "description" as a writer, as a person who shared sincerely from the heart.

To build a bridge...(I just tried to search for it, but it isn't on my current computer)....To build a bridge, one must not only have an understanding of both sides of the river, though that is a challenge indeed.  Only with the guidance of Love can one master the chasm in between.

This is what we need: more bridge building.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said something very powerful about this notion.  This is what he said.  It's being quoted all over creation today, but are we actually listening?

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here's another one, not quoted quite as often:

"Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Perhaps he was in his own way translating "Love your enemies..." (Matthew 5:44)

I would tend to put the word "enemy" in quotes, as there can be no actual enemies within the space of Omnipresent Love.  That is an Earthly illusion.

We can't afford the immaturity of anything less.  We really can't.  The "grown-ups in the room" (and those like Martin Luther King, Jr., who sadly, prematurely left it) will guide us when we listen.  There is a reason why we call such people wayshowers.  It's really very simple:  They show us the way.  (And a true wayshower never actually leaves us, thankfully.  Do we have the courage to follow what they say?)

 

 

Bridge rails photo by Susan Larison Danz.

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