Speaking Out With Love
October 7th, 2006
Freedom is like oxygen.
If you have plenty, you don’t think about it much. It remains abstract and invisible. I first understood it viscerally when it thinned. And I watched loved ones struggle to breathe.
Shielding and nurturing freedom requires love, honesty, and steadfastness—bravery made real through actions. In my own small way, I am learning that I am capable of such actions. Not committing to these principles however, can lead the most admired among us to participate in (or tolerate) shocking violations of others’ freedoms— denying others’ to be who they are and express their native purpose.
I have watched such violations of freedom erupt within my own beloved super eco-ultra-progressive-Buddha-love community. These acts of violence, at times physical or psychological, scare the heck out of me. It doesn’t just happen over there somewhere. It’s happening right here in Santa Fe. So I commit myself to standing up—speaking out with love, honesty and steadfastness—as bravely as possible when I see these violations of freedom wherever they occur.
“…to remain compassionate in an uncaring world while suffering no fools …”
Standing up for freedom anywhere makes freedom stronger everywhere.
Lyrics by Patricia Cathcart Andress that stay in my mind.
Remember why you came
The audacity to dream in the face of illusionary madness
That keeps our spirits bound
The ability to remain compassionate in an uncaring world
While suffering no foolsWounded healers, I’m calling wounded healers
Sewing stitches in the fabric of the broken-hearted masses
I believe that the moment has arrived for you to wake up!
Blast past your illusions……Blasting past my illusions I can live,
Breathe and create freedom in my community,
And the world, even in small ways.
I thank the bravest among us.
You are my role models.
by Amy Pilling
Beekeeping and Rescue
Environmental Designer
Educator and Community Organizer
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
