Remember What You Love

Dear Ones,

In the weeks leading up to the election, as I thought about the day after, I would not let myself imagine how it would feel to wake up with the results as they turned out. I am sick, numb, afraid, enraged, and grief-stricken. I’m afraid for the people I love and grieving for a world I thought I understood. And I know I am not alone in having those feelings. I know I’m not alone in the struggle to keep moving forward in this daunting and bewildering time.

Meanwhile, words of encouragement and companionship are pouring in from friends and colleagues for me and for you all. What I keep clinging to is the truth that Rebecca Solnit wrote, which I shared with you Wednesday, “Remember what you love. Remember what loves you. Remember in this tide of hate what love is. The pain you feel is because of what you love….There is no alternative to persevering…”

We must keep marching on, holding one another’s hands, reaching out to those we feel we do not understand, and living our values boldly and bravely. We have no alternative than to keep protecting each other and the rights of all people. We have no choice but to keep fighting for the well-being of everyone.

Remember that all movements for justice, which have been led by impacted people, have been centered in mutual care, in relationship, and in joy and hope as acts of resistance. Coming together in solidarity to mourn and rage and then to organize is what we do. Here are a few ways we can do that in the next few days:

• Friday night Shabbat at Beth Emet at 6:30. The Meeting Our Interfaith Neighbors class is attending, and you can join us!
• The Serendipity Fundraiser on Saturday evening will be a time of connection, community and fun. Yes, we can still have fun! I know you don’t feel like dancing but let’s dance anyway. Celebrating and supporting this community is more important than ever.
• Sunday morning worship at UCE with the choir.
• What Now? Organizing for Justice After the Election at Lake Street Church, Sunday at 11:45

• A Post Election Gathering at Second Baptist on Sunday night at 5pm

And here is the reading from Rebecca Solnit, I sent on Wednesday, in case you missed it. It seemed to help:

The following is from Rebecca Solnit, author of A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster.

“They want you to feel powerless and to surrender and to let them trample everything and you are not going to let them. You are not giving up, and neither am I. The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving. You may need to grieve or scream or take time off, but you have a role no matter what, and right now good friends and good principles are worth gathering in. Remember what you love. Remember what loves you. Remember in this tide of hate what love is. The pain you feel is because of what you love. The Wobblies used to say don’t mourn, organize, but you can do both at once and you don’t have to organize right away in this moment of furious mourning.

You can be heartbroken or furious or both at once; you can scream in your car or on a cliff; you can also get up tomorrow and water the flowerpots and call someone who’s upset and check your equipment for going onward. A lot of us are going to come under direct attack, and a lot of us are going to resist by building solidarity and sanctuary. Gather up your resources, the metaphysical ones that are heart and soul and care, as well as the practical ones.

People kept the faith in the dictatorships of South America in the 1970s and 1980s, in the East Bloc countries and the USSR, women are protesting right now in Iran and people there are writing poetry. There is no alternative to persevering, and that does not require you to feel good. You can keep walking whether it’s sunny or raining. Take care of yourself and remember that taking care of something else is an important part of taking care of yourself, because you are interwoven with the ten trillion things in this single garment of destiny that has been stained and torn, but is still being woven and mended and washed.”

Remember that I love you. We will persevere together moment by moment.

Rev. Eileen