We Are Connected

When I take stock of all of the madness we are going through together, I see a throughline.

Freedom.

Even though our fights are disparate, and sometimes diametrically opposed to one another, the theme of FREEDOM connects us.

Freedom from tyranny.

Freedom from violence and war.

Freedom to bodily autonomy.

Freedom from oppression.

Freedom to express our authenticity.

Freedom to live a joyful and fulfilled life on our own terms.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the surface level of our collective struggles. Who is right and who is wrong. Whose suffering is real and whose is imagined. People are, quite literally, fighting for survival, so the stakes couldn't be higher.

But the way in which we analyze and understand these issues can cause us to miss what connects us to each other. We miss that we are all fighting for freedom in our own way. We lose track of the truth that we are connected to each other and can never be separate. And so your fight is my fight and my fight is your fight.

Let me be clear. Freedom has to exist for all of us. It can't just be for you and yours or me and mine. Whether or not my lived experience is a "truth" for you isn't really relevant.

AND, collective freedom cannot exist without a culture that is focused on caring for each other. I'm not interested in freedom that means "every man for himself." Individualism is grounded in a sense of lack. And we don't lack. We have more than enough if we choose to share.

So how do we work out our differences about what care looks like in a collective that believes in freedom for every person? I don't know. We probably have to talk about it.

But we can't even get there because we aren't starting at the foundation.

Do you believe in freedom for all persons?

Truly?

Yes? Okay, me too.

Now let's talk about what we can build together on a new foundation of common ground - FREEDOM FOR ALL.