Some thoughts on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and being Good and BLM and Reflection
It is Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Time for reflection.
Reflection on Dr. King and what I can do today to make a better world.
Reflect on his dream. How is that dream doing?
I am from Minnesota and recently, even though I have been living in Switzerland for over thirty years, Minnesota has been in my Heart and on my Mind.
Maybe it is on your mind, too. Are the people affected in your heart like mine, too?
A few years ago, it was a #BLM moment, and it should continue. George Floyd was a person killed by local police in Minneapolis, MN; in a place I know well. It started that movement. Now we want to #beGood.
Here are some lessons I learned I from #BLM and now from #nomorekings that help me to reflect on this Feast Day for Dr. Martin Luther King:
1. People believe what they want, so believe in the positive things about others who are “different”
2. People need structure , what is yours?
3. The media needs to be “independent” for us and for the truth
4. Chaos can be and eventually will be tamed so make sure the positive powers win
5. Truth will win out (and tell) – in due time
6. Might just means a build-up of pressure
7. And so, you cannot put a lid on a boiling pot
8. Loving your neighbor is hard, and requires reflection and self-watching
9. Finally, for me personally, I choose not to “other” the foreigner, the stranger, the…
People will see what the believe: I am now convinced that people see what they want and use it to prove their point. The recent happenings in Minnesota are a good case in point, and I just want to say that I am aghast at what the “far right media” have interpreted.
So, believe in the good intention, the kindness and the worthiness of your neighbors and of those who are not like you. Believe in the positive.
We all need structure: Normally work puts a structure on our days, but since many of us now work differently since COVID lockdown and we have home office often more than one day a week, we have to make our own routines.
During lockdown in 2020 we created new healthier rhythms; they were daily activities done to keep a good schedule: get up early, do your morning routine(s), eat together and start work. Cook lunch and eat and do dishes. Walk the dog. Work till about five or six and cook again and eat and do dishes again.
Evenings were free to choose- read a book or garden (as the weather was so awesome, so that was my husband’s favorite choice: gardening) or do whatever makes you happy, but no doom scrolling.
Now when we have home office, it can be with a healthy rhythm, or it can be “work all the time”. We must choose between working all the time or we can think whether or not we can incorporate some of this healthy-rhythmic life into our overworked lives.
We can reflect on what we want to keep from what we have learned in the past instead of repeating former mistakes.
We need an independent media to gain a peace of mind – and perhaps a better “view” of what is going on in the world.
Since Geroge Floyd five years ago or so, I have been more aware of Minnesota and watch what is going on more carefully via my friends and family who live there and via media that is not “from there”, as well as my favorites that are local. Since I live in a place far from all the happenings in that state, I read media from other countries, and their independent (i.e. non-partisan) views are often what I take as truth. British, German, French and other media outlets are often the first place I check these days. Maybe you want to do this, too. You can write me for my suggestions.
Chaos is only disorder waiting for someone to order it. We all felt very chaotic at the beginning of lockdown in 2020 and there was a lot of uncertainty which made the chaos worse.
The Swiss government took a rather interesting way of dealing with the chaos by giving regulations and information, first on an almost daily basis, then on a bi-weekly basis. We never went on a total lockdown in Switzerland, but we were really encouraged to stay home and only to go out once or twice a day for walks and to go shopping a few times a week.
Most of us complied and the chaos turned to order quite quickly.
The same idea could be seen for most people on a micro-level.
We first did not know how to run our lives and what we should do since we had to give order to everything, but quickly our daily rhythms set in and life was again ordered. We had a lot of peace of mind.
Now Minnesota and many other places are very chaotic once again.
In my home state of Minnesota, the “little” people are afraid to go shopping, to go to work, to go to school, to take their children to school or to the bus stop. My sister is affected personally because of the care she needs and is not getting. This is happening to thousands of people in Minnesota.
It is awful and part of it is that there are ICE officers invading their space. These people are not welcome, and they are the cause of the chaos so they should leave immediately.
Truth (usually) wins, in time. There was a lot of misinformation running around about COVID five years ago and about what was happening in the in the world.
Even Swiss people were posting conspiracy theories on social media. But as the truth came out, there were fewer and fewer “wacky” ideas going around, but some people did drink hand sanitizer, and some people will always be afraid of immunizations.
Luckily for the Swiss population, there is a lot of trust in the scientists and the people running the country. This helps a lot in such a crisis.
Of course, the people who are real experts are not egotistical narcissists as are some other people running certain countries, which I choose not to name.
Now we can hope that the truth of what is happening in so many places over-pressured places of conflict and all-out war in the world will come out, even if it takes a while. The full truth on Renee Good’s martyrdom is coming out more and more.
Again, part of it has to do with what you believe., so believe in the good of the “little” people and in their good intentions.
The pressure builds up after a while when you can’t get out. Call it cabin fever, or lockdown jitters, no ICE melting, or whatever, but that pressure grows, and with a growth in pressure comes not-so-nice human responses; maybe you have seen them on social media. Therefore, as the ICE are making the pressure in Minnesota and other places by causing the population to stay home, it might go sideways for them. It will be interesting to see how, as one person on social media put it; “people with Viking blood” deal with being home for too long.
Adults had meltdowns over having to wear face masks in 2020, and now it is much much worse in so many places in the world - including Minnesota. The pressure is building and people sometimes have no outlet – let us see what happens and hope and pray for peace.
When you put the lid on the pot it explodes and boils over. The pressure is there and just trying to “keep a lid on it” does not work, and thus the perfect storm is being created with ICE having too much power (and no accountability!!!) and the world is totally watching them (with social media and the media) do the, for many of us, unimaginable over and over and over again.
What do people who are in charge of this crap expect, and it is really a top-down problem. Jan. 6th was also top-down and it is only getting worse with those people in charge.
Maybe it does actually have to do with that man who died, Epstein and his colleague, Gislaine Maxwell. Hmmm.
Maybe the #Epstein files need to come out, finally, preferably the unredacted version.
Certainly, everyone must know that the ICE problem in Minnesoata has to do with its governor, who is a Democrat and ran for Vice President in the last election.
The man in the white house is vindictive. Everyone knows that.
It is an issue of power, and who gets to have the power, after all. So, the power needs to be taken away from ICE and other are creating the chaos, somehow.
What I really hope is that the change momentum keeps going and that some real dialogue begins a conversation that is over 400 years overdue. Not just for Minnesota but for those who are being targeted: in other words: non-white, and others who are not of “traditional” WASP 1950’s Leave it to Beaver type.
Let us do good.
Let us be like Corrie ten Boom, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, like the many people who have resisted for the good.
Like Martin Luther King Jr. #MLK #nokings but the Real King: Jesus. #realkingjesus
FINALLY
It takes a whole lot of work to love your neighbor and I will not “other” you if you are different from me and that is going to be hard work for me and you.
This is my last point, and I really think it all boils down to love, no pun intended (well, maybe a little intention).
I have had several conversations recently where people have been “distancing” themselves from the situation (it’s not me, it’s them) - and “othering” other people. “Those Americans”. “Those whites” “Those lazy so-and-sos” “Those foreigners” “those Somalis” “those – you fill in the blank”.
It’s easy to “love“ someone when we are feeling like they need our help and they are somehow like us - but what about if we need other people’s help to see the reality of our own racist, misogynist, sexist, and other x-ist thoughts and behaviors? Remember to #beGood.
We all are biased in one way or another. I am biased. You are biased. And we “other” the stranger, the foreigner, the refugee, the person who does not act, think, and/or look like us.
We have the hardest time thinking about our own motives and bias, myself included.
It’s very easy to point fingers (and distance ourselves) rather than reflect on ourselves and our own bias, which we all have.
I will come back to this truth again and again: if we want to grow we have to self-reflect and that often takes help of others, a coach, a supervisor, a group coaching, etc.
Will you join me in the self-reflection journey? It’s long and arduous, but I truly believe that there is a pot of gold at the end of this journey.
Have a great week! I wish you well and may the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. Day go with you.
Act like Dr. King, think like him, reflect - and believe in his dream.
Patricia Jehle patricia@jehle-coaching.com