As the presidential campaign season starts to heat up at an alarming and vitriolic pace, I am saddened and repulsed and disappointed and disillusioned. Again. In this new millenium, our race, as in the human race, is no further evolved than we were a hundred, five hundred or even thousands of years ago. Nothing seems to have changed. With respect to America, lies, rumors, intolerance and insults abound today much as they did back when our forefathers were telegraphing and duelling their way into office at the onset of our country.
I used to be passionate about fighting battles for the underprivileged and disenfranchised in both the literal, in the trenches sense, and in the philosophical, intellectual sense. But after decades of devoting my time, money and energy to right what I perceived as wrongs, I finally realized that my opinions may have no more merit than the most virulently hateful, greed-motivated one-percenter on the planet. And even if I think they are wrong, I have come to accept that I have no power, as an individual or as a member of a “politically-correct-thinking” group, to change the cultural dynamics of our race. In fact, I now know that I must embrace everyone: red, blue, coffee, tea, bleeding from their eyes or wherever :)), black, brown, yellow, white, Muslim, Jew, Catholic, megalomaniacs, etc. etc. I must sincerely, from my heart of hearts, allow them their right to their beliefs and actions. Our country, and indeed our planet, will either survive and flourish or wither and self-destruct. Only time will tell. In the meantime…
I am grateful for this insight, and I’m grateful for my opportunity to focus on positive, spiritual and creative endeavors that I am proud to be associated with. I am grateful that I am able to release this whirlpool of negative energy and all of its concomitant chaos and heartbreak for a quiet life surrounded by a small circle of loving, caring folks. I am grateful for my beautiful studio and my opportunity to write and paint and enjoy the beauty of nature. I am grateful for a loving and supportive husband. I am grateful for my two beautiful “puppies” and the time that I have shared with them. I am grateful for my friends, my mentors, my spiritual guides. I am grateful for the air I breathe and whatever time I have left in this body. I am grateful for my health, and for those who helped me recover and thrive from breast cancer. That’s a lot of gratitude, and it’s just a start. I acknowledge and bless my gratitude every day.
Love, light and gratitude to everyone near and dear and far and polarized.
Aug. 10, 2015
Judy Richter 