I know that things look rather depressing these days, and you may wonder what lies ahead for you and your career. Don't worry! Spring hasn't been canceled this year. The sun still rises and sets each day. The birds still sing. Only humans seem to think that something is wrong.
My child, you are loved. You are of value simply because you are, not what you do.
My child, you are being called to patience, to love, to compassion toward others during these dark times. But in particular, you are being called to love yourself.
Look ahead with hope to the days and years ahead. Think of the worse case scenario as well as the best case scenario. You will find that even the worse case scenario is bearable. You have loved ones where you are and away. If one of us loses a job, so what? I have lost at least three jobs, and I am fine. I have struggled and look at me. I can smile. I can still have hope for days ahead. We are a resilient family. You are a resilient person. No one can take that away from you.
You have been born with a superior intelligence, and you have also endured hardship as a child. You survived back then and were able to struggle into success. If the worse happens, you will survive. You will be stronger. You will have a chance to reconsider, to rest, to love, to play. If the worse doesn't happen, you will also be stronger. But don't let fear of the worse case scenario take you away from your loved ones, to not enjoy life. HAVE your own life, take time to see beauty all around you as well as the greed.
Parker Palmer, author of "Let Your Life Speak," "The Courage to Teach," and "Politics of the Broken-Hearted," advises us during this time of "vaporized illusions," that we must now connect the dots and quit denying reality. Now is our opportunity to change our lives, to begin a movement into a better community.
For far too long most of us have been anesthetized into not seeing the reality that was bound to destroy itself and many around it. We witnessed the rich getting very rich while the poor were living on a life of credit cards. We all knew that a collapse was around the corner. It is here now.
You don't have to be a part of this illusion any more. Tell your story. Listen to others' stories. Tell your stories of us as a country, and then begin your story of now. What is going on at this moment in your life, and what gives you hope?
The times are calling you to find a new set of heart habits. You really don't have a choice NOT to find these new habits, to dispel the illusions that have gobbled up the lives of those around you, that made you relinquish what you have held dear, those you love and the time that you cherish.
Palmer says that your generation is living in what he calls "the tragic gap." Do you harbor corrosive cynicism or do you hold on to irrelevant idealism? Choose neither. Live in the gap of reality.
Use this moment to let your heart become more compassionate. You may be on the verge of a personal darkness. If this is the case, accept those who want to sit with you through your journey. You now have a chance to stand on real ground. In past months and years, you have been floating on a weakening balloon of illusions and societal greed. The balloon has burst, and you are on the earth again as a real human being, one who is loved and is capable of meeting new challenges.
Don't let your ego dictate to you that you can meet impossible demands. Instead, let the ego go, along with a societal set of ethics that have become illusion.
Your country and community are now walking in darkness with you. As you go along, be that encouraging presence to those you love. Cultivate an inner wisdom. Speak to those you love about this heart-breaking moment as we give up illusions that were forced upon us by those who had lost the wisdom that you now know.
Be strong. Be hopeful. Accept what comes and go on. No one can take away from you what makes you you. Don't give your who you are to the illusionists who have led an entire civilization into darkness.
Become the light so that others can see.
I know you can do it, because, after all, you are my child!