Community building requires community healing. And what does that look like?

"Staying ‘home’ and not venturing out from our own group comes from woundedness, and stagnates our growth. To bridge means loosening our borders, not closing off to others….To bridge is to attempt community, and for that we must risk being open to personal, political, and spiritual intimacy, to risk being wounded."- Gloria Anzaldua

"Quedarse en la casa'' y no aventurarse fuera de nuestro propio grupo viene donde estamos heridos y proviene nuestro crecimiento. Para hacer puentes signifa que abriemos mas de nuestras fronteras y que no cierremos a otros… Para hacer puentes es intentar comunidad, y para eso tenemos que corre el riesgo de ser abierto a personal, político y espiritual intimidad, a correr el riesgo de ser heridos. "
-
Gloria Anzaldua


Everybody is waiting for the movement to happen ! And we dont realize we are the movement. Its me and you coming together and having some honest and maybe painful truthtelling between us. But there is probably some beautiful thing we will create together as a result. I want to speak to each person in my community.Let's get the party going.

Todo el mundo está esperando a que el movimiento a ocurrir! Y nosotros no darse cuenta de que somos el movimiento. Comienza la communidad cuando usted y yo tienemos algunos conversaciones doloroso pero verdarosos . Pero es probable que algunos bellos cosas que es probablemente vamos a crear juntos . Quiero hablar con cada person en mi communidad.Vamos a comienzar esta fiesta !




Friday, December 25, 2009

AND SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?


-John Lennon

I actually wrote this last year at Christmas, Monday, December 29, 2008

I woke up with this song in head and while I may be having a good time with family and friends this Christmas, the question today must be answered. What have I done?
The song is John Lennon’s Christmas Card to his beloved planet. Its more than a “I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” tralalalala song. It has the background singers and Yoko Ono singing, “War is over if you want it”
So John gave his planet a song wishing us well. John Lennon also left us reminder that if we really want war to be over, we can have it. So I begin to think of war.
If I think of what my country has done to other people in other countries or even within itself-a civil war I think about civil rights, apartheid and specifically apartheid with indigenous people and their descendents. I think about me and my Mexican people. I think of anti- immigration and gay hate. I think of self hate.I also think of conflicts between me and people in my community. In all my hurt, have I waged war against people, or have I waged war against the hurt between people? I have waged war with the hate and hurt within me and between us. I hate we cant get it together and be together. Togetherness is all I am after. Not together as in I own you. But a belonging. I belong to somebody. Somebody cares a lot about me is all about what I am about!! Have I gone to war against someone or something? Who and what am I fighting? And what is a good fight?
War is over if I want it.
So my war is over with you.
If no one is my enemy. Then what is destroying me and you? What keeps me from loving you? It brings me to my final conclusion that I am my own worst enemy. I have done my best to transform my hurt and I still remain in love. I want to master hurt -both mine and yours . I want to have the mastery to not walk away from a fight, but to face a fight by not fighting at all. I want to fight IT the things that divide us..no not you.
I just want to be able to wave my hand or say the right things to open your heart, or better yet by my mere presence transform hurt. So
I must remain in love to wage war against the hurt between us. This in turn will become effortless and then I will have learned the lesson of
Unconditional Love.
Now, then this turns into a good fight not war.
And so now this is Christmas and my question is:
And what have you done for love?
War is over.