A Personal Perspective About This Weekend’s American Unrest

Monday Motivation, Inspiration, Wisdom for Women, Women Entrepreneurs, and Americans

Not since the night of 9/11 did I feel the way I did last night, tucking myself into bed early in silence to escape raw images of death and destruction, angst and anxiety, unrest and uselessness of a situation I had no control of causing or creating. At the end of 9/11, I remember peeking in at my young sons sleeping in their beds, praying there would be a tomorrow for us all after the shock of the day and losing a friend in one of the planes. I prayed and turned my worries over to God hoping for a better day and future. Last night, I didn’t have my sons within reach since they are grown white men living in New York City, not far from the police car burning and protest hot-spot of Union Square the night before. How I wish they were still within reach to watch them with a mother’s eye.

With a full and compassionate heart, I hurt for the black and brown men and women effected by injustice. I also felt shame and anger towards the people who broke in and stole from small and large businesses in Santa Monica and other cities. As an entrepreneur, the images of looting affected me deeply understanding how much sweat, tears, and money go into building an enterprise or business storefront. I ached for the entrepreneurs who discover they’ve been robbed when they go to work today perhaps because my house was robbed twice in my life. It’s an unsettling feeling to have others take from you especially since one of the robberies happened while our house was on fire on my 9th birthday. As if devastation from a burning home full of memories isn’t enough, the heartless act of stealing from people while they are down already is horrendous to me.

More than anything I’ve always wanted to be a good person, a person who doesn’t look at the color, sexuality, religion, or economic status of another person as a qualifier for inviting them into my life and loving them. Good people are good people and worthy of my affection period. I believe most people are good. It’s probably why the images of the past few days sent me to bed early, silently, to contemplate the fate of our beautiful nation in harm’s way of destroying itself. I don’t know how to make others see or feel what I see and feel about other people, I just pray they will. I also wish for equality and justice, patience and understanding, more love and empathy, and respect for everyone.

As I slowly got out of bed today, not as eagerly as I typically do with the residue images of yesterday’s anger only a moment away, I do what I typically do which is pray for a better day, write about my feelings to share with others, support my sister entrepreneurs, and go outside in the quiet of my old farmland homestead, where only the birds make noises, and hope that the peace of my heart and surroundings find their way into others hearts today to help solving the problems we all face.

P.S. If you need another unlifting visual to help you see the world differently, listen to this 1985 collobration of “We are the World” found on Youtube at https://youtu.be/4M7c-JOnPdw