Dear Friends:

Once again we share an insight from our friend and ally, Jim Burklo.  His posts, "Musings" always give us uplift and something to reduce our stress and worries.  We share this with you today.

Sighs Too Deep: Breathing in a time of pandemic and protest

More MUSINGS by Jim Burklo

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words."  (St Paul, Romans 8: 26)

I needed to sigh. 

So up to the mountains I went this past Saturday, and hiked among the huge slabs of sandstone at 4,000 feet on the desert side of the San Gabriel Mountains.  I paused to stand under a scrubby piñon pine tree and listen to the voice of its stubby needles in the cool clear wind. 

Last week, while I was teaching a mindfulness meditation class for USC students and staff on Zoom, we got into a discussion after I led the group through a "body scan" meditation, guiding them to attend to any emotions that might be associated with sensations in their bodies.  Several said that their breath was the focal point.  One woman said she found herself sighing in the meditation - and sighing a lot in general.  Others reported the same experience.  Then a graduate student in the class spoke up:  "Isn't this what's up for everybody now?  The coronavirus takes away your breath.  George Floyd, as he was dying under the policeman's knee, cried 'I can't breathe!'  And we are all sighing because of the mix of emotions we are feeling!" 

Her astute observation reminded me that when the virus started spreading, and the lockdown began, I found myself sighing a lot.  What was happening to the entire human race, all around the planet, was truly breathtaking.  In recent weeks I have noticed that the sighing stopped.  I habituated. 

I also habituated to police violence against black people. When the news about George Floyd's murder came out, I was saddened and disgusted, but my breath was not taken away.  Just another incident in a long series of examples of the lingering scourge of racism in America. 

Until I read a Facebook post written by a fellow member of Mt Hollywood Church in Los Angeles.  Hilary's anguish was palpable.  As a black woman with a son, she was in despair that what happened to George Floyd could happen to her own child.  Her despair broke through my spiritually-insulated, white-privileged soul.  With hers, finally, my sighs were too deep for words. 

I'm grateful that Hilary took my breath away.  I'm grateful to belong to a church where the Spirit can blow down the walls that inhibit our vulnerability, as she did for me. 

If we're sighing, we're not alone.  We're sighing with the Holy Spirit of divine Love who comisserates with us.  The biblical Greek word for "spirit" is "pneuma", which also means "breath".  If we're sighing, we're feeling emotion.  And emotion is energy.  Mindfulness practice and contemplative prayer are not about breathing deeply and being relaxed.  They are about paying attention to our experiences and thoughts and emotions and letting them be, even if they're hard.   And if we know our emotions, we'll be in touch with their energy, and then we can channel that energy into creative, positive work to relieve the suffering and injustice around us. 

Contemplative practice is the very opposite of withdrawal from the world and its struggles.  It is what we do in order to feel again when we've become hard-hearted, and to get clarity about how best to direct that power for the good of others.  When I am hard-hearted, when I am complacent, I don't know how to pray as I ought.  I need help.  Hilary helped.  And so did that piñon tree in the mountains.

Each kind of pine has its own voice in the wind, tuned to the length of its needles.  I stood and listened to the piñon, until divine Love made me sigh once more.

 
JIM BURKLO
Blog: MUSINGS
Senior Associate Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life, University of Southern California
JIM BURKLOSenior Associate Dean, Office of Religious Life, 
University of Southern California 
 
Copyright © 2019, Jim Burklo. All rights reserved.

​

Dear Friends:

Our post yesterday about the hate incidents and crimes we've seen unfold via internet links calls for suggestions on how to be a witness for equity and justice.

We see today that last night the police in Minneapolis, MN drove people protesting the death of George Floyd into the streets with tear gas and rubber bullets. Mr. Floyd is the man who apparently died when a police officer knelt on his neck for what witnesses said was several minutes.  The crowds that came to protest were very diverse, many people outraged by this death. That diversity did not stop the use of force by the Minneapolis police.  We have no knowledge of what transpired last night, but we do see that for once people's 'whiteness' did not confer privilege. Yes, there are risks to standing for justice no matter who you are.

So we are confronted as well by our own apprehensions and fears if we, no matter who we are, stand up to power, speak truth to power.  What can we do if we are of brittle bone and unfirm stance but still wish to make our anger and our anguish known on these issues of injustice?  More to the point, how can we be proactive in preventing hate actions rather than reactive to them?  I once said I'd never again go to a candlelight vigil for victims of hate. My work in life was to create whatever conditions I could to assure we didn't need them. That work goes on.

If we genuinely wish to stop acts of hate, we need to begin with opposing it. We need to attend city and county public meetings, generally safe spaces, to raise our voices. Silence implies indifference if not actual consent to crimes against people under "color of authority".  This is where we can make sure that's not swept under the rug, where we demand that our officials act with decency.

But this is a long process that needs, once again, to interrupt "common sense" bigotry at the start.  Yes, it's true hate is not inborn but taught. We can reverse that process.  In 2000 I was living in Yolo County, CA, a fairly rural community but a diverse one.  It's also the home of University of California, Davis making Davis a pretty liberal town in a fairly conservative county.  Nevertheless, Yolo has been a leader in confronting hate crimes.  The county obtained a grant from the Southern Poverty Law Center to have a three-year program implementing their excellent program, "Teaching Tolerance".  There was a wonderful man from the Sheriff's office whose sole job was to go from school to school with this program.  He was welcomed in every school but one, and over the course of time, hate crimes dropped off, and bullying subsided.  Of the crimes or incidents that did occur, the perpetrators could all be traced to the one school where the "Teaching Tolerance" curriculum had not been used.  You rarely get data that are this blatant, but the experience served to show how important education of young people can be to ending hateful behavior.

As adults move to make their voices heard by public officials, we can simultaneously educate our young people.  Denominations, interfaith groups, youth ministries as well as civic organizations and school districts can access "Teaching Tolerance" curricula including online resources. Grants are available with simple, clear guidelines if personnel are needed to implement an extensive program.  For more information on where to start, you can go here

For specifics on interfaith understanding, don't forget our "oldie but goodie", Building Bridges of Understanding.  Produced by California Council of Churches in the wake of 9/11 and the uptick of anti Muslim hate (that is once again revived), you can self instruct via our online and downloadable study guide.  For a copy of the guide, please go  here  Building Bridges is at the bottom of the list.  The video that accompanies the guide is in very short supply, so please let us know by return on this email if you're interested, and we will try to ferret out a copy.

For combating anti-LGBTQ hate, also on the increase, that same link can take you to our study guide, Living Lovingly.  With all our study guides, directions on how to lead study circles and to engage conversations are given.  We see these as ways to interact with people who are uncertain about how our faith principles dovetail with justice issues, how to give safe space for hard discussions and meaningful resolutions.  

This is how we start. We need the commitment and the will.  We don't have to be maced to make a stand. 

Do whatever you can, however you can, for as long as you can.   It all counts.

Thank you. 

​

Dear Friends,

We came across a deliciously wonderful story about a young girl who "reached out and touched someone" through her letters.  We got permission from her father to repost it here.  We think this is something that will brighten your day and will remind all of us that we can contact people the "old fashioned way" - via letters.

We hope you enjoy this story.   


Em's Story as Told by Her Father
  
Emerson, my 11 year old, is on a bit of a wild ride with the @USPSand our local mail carrier, Doug.

And, I think there’s a deeper message to it all.

First, the backstory...

Em has a serious letter writing habit. She maintains active correspondence with over a dozen of her favorite people. And, if you’ve been the lucky recipient of one of Em’s hand decorated letters and envelopes, then you have a pretty good idea of the joy they bring. 
 
A letter from Emerson is likely to include some art, a joke or two, a mention of her younger brother, confessions of her love for Taylor Swift and enough questions to guarantee a response.

So, when she decided to thank our mail carrier for the service he provides us, she left nothing out. In went Taylor Swift, in went the little brother, in went the jokes.

Q: Why do you never see elephants hiding in trees?
A: Because they’re really good at it.

Em wrote, “I’m Emerson. You may know me as the person that lives here that writes a lot of letters & decorated the envelopes. Well, I wanted to thank you for taking my letters and delivering them. You are very important to me. I make people happy with my letters, but you do too.”

She continued, “The reason you are very important in my life is because I don’t have a phone so how else am I supposed to stay in touch with my friends? You make it possible!”

She put it in the box, smiled when he took it & that was enough.

The next day a package arrived with some stamps & two letters.

Doug had shared Em’s letter with his supervisor, Sara, and they both wanted to share how touched they were by her note. 

Sara said that, as an essential worker, Doug might not be able to maintain regular correspondence, but she sure could. Em started writing that very afternoon.
​
This is when things get interesting. The next week, we got a letter address to “Mr and Mrs Weber.” It seems that Sara had shared Em’s note as a “Token of Thanks” in the internal newsletter for the Western US and there were some postal folks that wanted to thank her.

​Today, we saw Doug getting out of the truck with two BOXES of letters from around the country. We snapped a quick photo through the door as he and Emerson met for the first time. It was a beautiful moment on silent reciprocity.

​These letters are so deeply human. They are filled with family, pets, hobbies, community and an overwhelming sense of kindness.

​Because Em was fully vulnerable, they were too.

Em shared jokes, so they shared jokes.

Em share her brother, so every gift that was sent came in duplicate.

Em shared @TaylorSwift13 and it turns out that the US Postal service is filled with lots of undercover Swifties.
One maintenance manager from Minnesota wanted to inspire her to start collecting stamps so he sent along two stamps of his own from the bulletin board in his office to start her collection.

​And, they sent stamps to be used as well. Stamps for her to write back. Stamps for her to write others. Stamps, stamps, stamps. (218 by Em’s count.)

​But, there was something more in these letters. People felt seen - some for the first time in a long time.

“I work alone in a small rural post office...”
“My kids all live far away...”
“Not a lot of people think about how hard we work...”
One wrote,
“I can’t tell you how much it means to read your letter...”

Another,
“I have a son in Kuwait and if you have a second to send him a letter he would love it.”

And another,
“I know you can’t write back to all of us, but maybe I can drop you a line from time to time?”
With dozens of new pen pals, Em did what she does best.

She wrote the dad.
She wrote his son.
She assured the secret swifties not to be embarrassed because her dad likes TSwift, too.
She acknowledged that there WERE a lot of letter but that she had time.
She sees them all.

​I’m not sharing this because I’m a proud dad.

I’m sharing it because it is relatively easy, if we take the time, to give others the one thing they need to be well - human connection.

I have a friend that says we all just want to be seen, known and loved.

Em does this boldly.
It’s #MentalHealthAwareness month and I want to be bold and brave like Em.

We’re all in a moment of physical isolation that is amplifying a real epidemic of loneliness, anxiety and depression.

I’ve been feeling it personally since long before we locked our front door.
In the second week of quarantine, I responded to hundreds of DMs from creatives who are feeling this disconnect in a significant way.

I heard from college students to senior executives who personally and professionally are stressed, worried and/or afraid.
Two weeks ago, I personally started working with a Talkspace therapist for the 1st time.

For years I’ve travelled the country talking about relationships of influence, but I’ve used that travel as an excuse not to seek the support I know I need.

This pause gave me time to act.
I have incredible family & friends, but the truth is that I needed more.

And, sending texts via an app has been the small step I needed.

Moral of the story: it’s the small things that matter most, friends.
Send a letter.
Make a call.
Practice self care.
Take a step of boldness.
For yourself or for others.

And, thank your mail carrier (from an appropriate distance.) They are working extremely hard to keep us all connected.
And, if any of you are feeling isolated, anxious, scared or depressed, those feelings are valid.

I’m feeling them, too.

And, I’m here if you need me.

❤️
We weren’t sure that a day could be more emotional than yesterday, but - my friends - you’ve topped it. We’re seeing all of your replies & retweets. We’re reading them aloud as a family. We’re absolutely in awe of the ripples of impact that have come from one letter. #WeSeeYou
And, if you’ve gotten this far, just know that you can start the same waves of goodness with the people that you count on, respect & love. (Maybe even your @USPS mail carrier.)

Just tell them that you miss them, love them or just see them. And, then, let us know what happens. ❤️

Dear friends,

​In January this year, four humanitarian workers with No Mas Muertes – No More Deaths – were convicted in the US Federal Court in Tucson AZ for the crime of leaving water and food for immigrants crossing into the USA.
 
New standards of law had been put into place to increase the penalties specifically for aid workers. Convicted of trespass, of being in a federal land area without a permit, and of ‘abandoning personal property’ anyone else would have received a fine.  Now the law specifically aimed at these people of faith, may sentence the volunteers to six months in prison plus a hefty fine.
 
Another volunteer, Scott Warren, is currently on trial in the same jurisdiction for “harboring” undocumented immigrants for also providing two men with water and food as they took refuge in an abandoned building.  He faces much stiffer charges for both harboring immigrants and conspiring to harbor them.
 
All of the volunteers are people of faith, Warren’s defense rests on the recent Religious Freedom Restoration Act established by former US Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  However, the American Civil Liberties Union has raised serious questions about the unequal application of the law. 
 
Warren asserts that his faith (he is Unitarian Universalist) requires that we aid the alien in our midst.  He states that he is motivated by many faith directives to assure that all people in need, including undocumented people, are protected against death and harm from hunger and thirst.  That is the underlying motivation for the entire organization, and Warren was acting upon it.
 
In a chilling declaration, the US Department of Justice has declared that this is not a religious belief to be upheld.
 
The government opposed the motion, saying the prosecution does not substantially burden Warren's beliefs. DOJ lawyers said Warren “is not required by his beliefs to aid in the evasion of law enforcement. Nor were the people associated with these charges ‘in distress.’ ”  (www.npr.org October 18, 2018.)
 
With this administration creating laws and standards within those laws that target only specific beliefs – ban on contraceptive coverage for Hobby Lobby and the rights not to bake cakes for same sex weddings – the First Amendment protections themselves are now under assault as much as the humanitarian workers.
 
The assault on religious freedom should alarm each and every one of us. In past cases such as the anti-abortion movement, the standards of law were universal. When barriers were erected around women’s clinic doors, the guidelines were consistent with all types of protests such as labor strikes, as were standards for federal injunctions that established permissible and non-permissible actions. There was one standard applied to all. 
 
These recent cases in Arizona federal court are setting legal standards today that are directed against certain people by employing different sets of norms and consequences from those for anyone else.  
 
We are also being told our faith values do not exist. They are the wrong values for this administration.
 
The immediate concern is the well being of the workers facing prison and further charges.  If you would like to help, please go to nomoredeaths.org
 
You can also find links there to details about their work in general and to Scott Warren’s trial in specific and may make donations to the organization’s legal fund.
 
These are uneasy days for both humanitarian action and for equality before the law.  We encourage you to take your voices to our elected officials on behalf of absolute equality in all matters pertaining to law and to conscience.  We have a First Amendment for a reason.  The law cannot undermine it for some groups while upholding it for others.  That is the pathway to tyranny. 
 
Thank you.