The Uprising of the Mirrors

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, show me the Other as Myself…

In the shards of your glass, shattered by guns, smashed by bombs, smeared as you are with the blood of innocents: Mirror, mirror on the wall, show me Myself as the Other.

It is time. It is past time.

“My dear friend, do not lose heart. We were made for these times.”
– Clarissa Pinkola Estes

It is time that we ordinary folks look in the mirror and see the Other gazing back at us.

Amidst the mayhem, under the rubble, we can be brave enough to recognize ourselves in each other. We can rise up against the leaders pushing us away from each other, inciting us against each other.

We can raise our voices to demand that those leaders resign. Now.
Let us now insist on being led by people who will bring us together.
Let them help us to rescue each other, not bomb each other.
Let them inspire us to heal each other, not incinerate each other.

The role we are meant for is to be cooperating stewards of this land, not adversaries in a toxic struggle for proprietorship. Humans are children of the land alongside all other beings. No one owns the land or the planet. How can we best protect it together? How can we best preserve it together, for all our children? These are the things that require our attention now.

No parent wants to bury their child in a hellscape of meaningless violence.
No parent who has done so, wants any other parent to have that experience.
We cannot buy anyone’s freedom that way.

Here is the path to our shared freedom; this is the future we want:
We want all the mothers to love all the children and all the fathers to look out for all the children. We want all the brothers and sisters to look out for each other.
Deep in our hearts, we all want that. Even if we don’t know it yet.

Those who are not yet able to embrace this direction must be understood as broken, wounded, dehumanized, incapacitated — and unfit at least temporarily for any leadership.

For those who are able, however, now is our time. Now is when we can stand up together and find new leaders who can guide us on a shared path back to our essential shared humanity.

Now is when we can all become combatants for peace, tolerance, nonviolence, mutual respect and equality. Right Now.

Today is a good day to declare that Justice is not the destination but rather the path. A shared path. A path we can walk together, starting now. Right. Now.

I mean… what are we waiting for?

Come to your senses: The late Abdalla Abukatish in Jaffa. (Photo: Deb Reich)