Not sure if this is the correct place, but Monday I just "happened" (ha!) to see Emmanuel Acho twice on TV, hours apart. I had no idea who he was or is, although I have since learned :)
He just flew into my heart with his joyful energy, his incredibly articulate thoughts, his laughter and his clear teaching through what Madeleine L'Engle used to call, "Story" (with a capital S). He has videos on line and a book just out, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man. His energy has this delightful gift of whimsy enfolded within a very old soul wisdom.
I have watched a few of the videos and can hardly wait to read the book. Based on what I have heard him share in the "convos," I believe he is absolutely discussing the "trauma" Jeanne hoped we would discuss in this thread. Not sure if the link will come through, but if not it is just basically uncomfortableconvos.com or just google Emmanuel Acho and all this stuff comes up. He is a LIGHT if ever I saw one.
https://uncomfortableconvos.com/
For the record, and don't laugh too hard, I used to tease my eldest son by saying, "Football, is that the one with the pointy ends?" because I am totally sport-challenged, hence not knowing anything about this incredible young man until I saw him interviewed on TV.
If this is the wrong thread, please place it wherever it needs to be. ❤️
I don’t think that scenario would feel different for me. What would feel different for me, and what I would struggle with, would be to give an ice cream cone to anyone who has anything to do with Donald Trump, or with Donald Trump himself. That example of radical grace would be the longest stretch I could make, it would have to be the Jesus in me doing it. I certainly couldn’t do it in my flawed humanity, it would be grace beyond my own abilities.
Yes, I think I would feel the same way. If by some bizarre coincidence, I encountered T and he needed a little help-- like change for the parking meter or a door held open for him or even a drink of water.... I think I would be honor-bound to help, but it would certainly have to be Jesus-type energy doing a lot of the work. I would not feel right if I did not help. (I think I'd run away right after and take a very long hot shower and try to exorcise any nasty energy, but I would have to help.)
Just walking up and giving him an ice cream cone or a Big Mac or a compliment on his tie--- something he didn't NEED, now-- that would be even more difficult. Wow. It would take all the external positive energy I could summon, plus I'd have to also say some kind of affirmation like "God Bless you and show you the path of kindness... " before I ran away and showered. But I think I'd need to try to muster up the energy to do it.
Y'all are way better people than me.
I'd have no problem stepping right over his dying or lifeless body on the curb on 5th Avenue because I know he'd do that to me.
I would ask him why he betrayed our country and let him know how he was responsible for killing over 200,000 people because of his lying and denials of the virus. And the children at the border. I'd let him know if it were up to me he'd be in the Hague for crimes against humanity. Period.
ADDITIONALLY just reported: over 130 Secret service agents are infected with the virus because of Trumpass and his selfish cruelty!
@jeanne-mayell thank you for sending that article Jeanne. I feel that I’ve always been accepting on my dad’s side of the family being Republicans. I’m understanding of where they’re coming from and the trauma they’ve endured as Refugees fleeing the communist regime. I also ponder how my mom is more progressive when she’s the one that’s ultra stubborn and conservative. I guess her critical thinking skills and empathy is stronger than my dad and his side of the family.
This thread is incredible.
On the issue of Chapelle and the ice cream cone (yes, I saw SNL on Saturday) this thought came to me. Would it matter what type of ice cream? Cheap dollar store brand or Ben and Jerry's? Can I choose who gets which and if so should the gourmet brand go to the person it would be most difficult to give it to or the easiest?
This thought of gourmet vs. generic ice cream led me further down the rabbit hole.
Think of WIC. If you use WIC, my understanding is that there may be a healthy brand of whole grain cereal you like, but WIC only allows you to chose from certain brands instead of all comparable healthy whole grain cereals. It seems to me that General Mills brands sure are heavily represented for WIC.
I understand this is not Chapelle's point, but I went down the rabbit hole and well, if we are re-thinking our world and how we are conditioned to think, this seems to fit. If the food nutritional requirements are met, shouldn't we be giving a choice to people using WIC? It empowers them more and limits them less. It shows greater respect to the individual. It also gives smaller brands who have good nutritional content a chance to impact everyone in society and build up their businesses, instead of only benefiting huge corporations.
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@lovendures I love that you went down this rabbit hole. This is so very true which causes the greater divide. It’s very expensive to a maintain a certain level of health unless you’re producing and growing everything yourself. Sometimes when you’re given social programs you take what is given to you without complaints but just as you say the choices available are to make the corporations richer utilizing the social programs. It’s such a greedy capitalist society we live in and it’s difficult to break the cycle when we’re truly not treated equal.
share the love and light
Wondering where to put this latest news. I'm putting it here because healing trauma requires discernment, not allowing anyone who says they are sorry to return and re-injure us.
Charles Koch says, "Opps, I goofed," about the ultra right agenda he bankrolled, while he continues to bankroll it.
I put it in this thread because Charles Koch is more responsible than any other individual on the planet for fueling the demise of America and the damage to our planet than any other individual.
The Koch Brothers were raised by two psychopaths, their father and their nanny, and a terrified mother. So when a psychopath like him says he's sorry, while he continues to bankroll Amy Barrett and the Georgia Republican Senate campaigns, I do not believe him.
This thread does not mean I would let the likes of Koch into my heart. Sorry. Only from a great distance. No more than I would let the likes of Donald Trump.
He says he wants to work with Biden. No. Never. Ever. Ever. Ever. The man belongs in prison and his $45 billion should confiscated and distributed to his victims, although it will never come close to compensating the damage he has done.
After pouring gasoline on the US Divide, Charles Koch says he now wants to heal the nation
Do you think there is a chance he may be having an awakening?
He would have to prove himself big time!!
@jeanne-mayell And he wants to work with the ACLU as well?!! Give me a break. It's a ploy. If progressives refuse to work with him (whatever that would mean) he'll portray them as rigid and intolerant. Anyone who lets him into their tent does so as their own risk. He's plotting.
Nope. And even in the unlikeliest chance that he is, he'd have to do A LOT of penance. In typical rich entitled white guy manner, it's all whoops, my bad, but let's have a fresh start. Well he should not get one. There are things that are not forgivable and people who should be shunned. Not everyone deserves a second chance. Poor Charles Koch will be OK without the progressive movement, not that he cares about it. This is all PR and other darker ulterior motives.
@lynnventura @lowtide. His words mean nothing other than that he's realized he's been beaten and wants to be let onto the winning team. He is a snake.
Penance is something you do, not something you just give lip service to.
He would have to stop funding conservative causes and donate all his money and his company to repairing the damage he has done.
His brother David was allowed to be on the board of one of the public broadcasting companies. He contributed to some earth documentaries that carefully managed to avoid the subject of climate change. David Koch's money should not have been allowed into a public broadcasting group. His goal was to subtly infiltrate liberal thinking.I had not read this article until now, but I felt from watching the shows he sponsored that Koch's money had influenced PBS and NPR.
If the food nutritional requirements are met, shouldn't we be giving a choice to people using WIC? It empowers them more and limits them less. It shows greater respect to the individual. It also gives smaller brands who have good nutritional content a chance to impact everyone in society and build up their businesses, instead of only benefiting huge corporations.
I was enrolled in WIC for about 3 months after my son was born over a decade ago. It was one of the most backwards programs with extremely strict brand & sizing requirements - down to the ounce! Like the program would allow for say 12 oz. of peanut butter; you had to get either the pre-approved brand or store generic version, and if the packaging changed to 11.8 oz. it would no longer qualify for WIC benefits.
Baby formula was even worse! The area we live in is generally impoverished, so many mothers were on WIC. Because of the extremely strict sizing requirements for everything in the program, it was actually creating an artificial shortage of baby formula in those can sizes. If your child needed a different brand/type of formula other than the default “choice,” you had to get a doctor’s note and apply for an exception.
I found the whole thing grotesque, between the ridiculous brand & sizing rules and the holier-than-thou attitudes of the various social workers involved. It’s like the program had been twisted around from actually helping low-income mothers feed their kids into a strange form of punishment for us, and that we should have to grovel & prostrate ourselves for the most basic scraps of human dignity. I dropped the program after 3 months cos I couldn’t get an exception for my kid’s formula - apparently “this brand gives my child horrible colic” didn’t count as a medical reason? We really could have used the extra food at the time, but our dignity & peace of mind just wasn’t worth all the hoops we had to jump through.
@jeanne-mayell Enjoyed the sense of relief from the election win, yet as more and more of these stories emerge, am back to banging my head against the wall.
@theungamer We are finally now moving in the right direction. But it took more than a day, or even a year, to build Rome.
According to my 2013 timeline meditation, (the one that showed a crash in 2020 and a slow move back up to 2028), we are going to be rebuilding for another six to eight years.
I do not believe the Republican Party will win another presidency. But we have to seriously downgrade them in Congress too. We have to downgrade them in state governments as well. Then we get to the starting line to heal the planet. We must keep on fighting. We must keep getting out the vote. We must be watch dogs over our world.
We must continue being the angelic troops on the ground.
Some good news:
1. All those people who voted this year against all odds, are not going to give up. They will keep on voting. They know now that is is worth the effort. This is a huge shift.
2. We are like the abused spouse or children. We want to believe in the redemption of the perpetrators, but the abuse leaves us wary, and we must remain wary. We can extend a loving hand without letting anyone bite it off. We are maturing, becoming wiser.
3. Angels are telling us love is the way, but that love includes loving, respecting, and believing in ourselves.
4. Trusting our intuition is a big part of loving ourselves. We have to trust our wariness, not override our deepest concerns.
5. Gaia (the earth) is on the move and she will not let us off the hook until we show we are making changes. This means that Covid isn't going to let up until we have learned to respect nature over money.
6. Our process towards happiness and fulfillment is the process of rising up, women rising, diversity rising, love rising, wisdom rising. We are evolving.
Re: The Koch "Legacy"
I wouldn't say psychopaths, but definitely sociopaths, and not so much narcissism as greed. I think this latest expression of remorse is entirely hollow, no awakening to be had. He's just hedging his bets and wants to do something that we call in Italian dialect, 'a mossa. It means someone is putting on an act - they are behaving in a way that appears appropriate or helpful on the surface, but they have a hidden agenda.
I may have mentioned this before, but I hold less hope for change in the Koch dynasty lines than in the Murdoch dynasty. My BFF - the very conservative and wealthy one - her son has been hanging out with the Koch grandkids since middle school. The are all very "master of the universe" types - very entitled, jetting around on private jets, partying all the time, pay to get into Ivy League schools without real skills or knowledge.
Because the uneducated in this country (whether born here or elsewhere) have been brainwashed to see democratic socialism as equivalent to totalitarian communism, there is little hope of truly putting this country together (I'd say "again" except I don't think it really ever was). The poor uneducated would see the stripping of people like the Kochs and Murdochs of even a small chunk of their wealth as a communist attack and would be greeted with fear and escalating rebellion.
@jeanne-mayellI TOTALLY agree with you Jeanne! I saw one of these climate change documentaries recently and was very surprised to see that Koch was one of the "supporters". I also thought that the documentary skirted the facts on climate change.
I agree that he is a total snake who will stop at nothing to promote his true agenda of making our country into a "libertarian" refuge for the very rich! Despicable!!!
@jeanne-mayell Agree. 45 and the Republican Party NEED TO GO! I can keep that mantra going indefinitely.