January 2010 - Eddie was three months old. Haiti had a terrible earthquake. Every part of me wanted to get on a plane and help with the relief efforts. Eddie was too young for me to leave him. I stayed home.
I helped every way I could. I organized groups. I translated. I shared my knowledge of Haiti to the droves of people who responded - immediately and with deep compassion. I was amazed at the response. Anarchists working with the UN. Atheists working with Baptist missionaries. Philosophical dividing lines set aside for the moment as a gut reaction to a great injustice moved people with compassion. They were compelled and could find no other way.
A dear friend painted this painting for me during that time. Each day she prayed deeply for Haiti and meditated on an image of a woman's face . She gave it to me as a going away gift as I left our church community in Davis to follow a new call to life in Livermore.
Livermore has caused me to come face to face with a great number of hidden injustices. There aren't blatant starving children here or epidemic disease or crippling poverty. But, I feel injustice, when recognized breeds compassion. Injustice when disguised can breed contempt. My gut reaction to the types of injustices experienced in places like Livermore has been, in a word, "whatever." A failure to recognize the injustice around me creates a false sense of arrogance. Snap judgments lead to an inability to empathize. "If that were me, I would do X and therefore I would never be in that position." But the reality is, the sources of injustice are real. Discrimination, disease, abuse, poverty, societal structures cage people into lives with few options. I've had to open my eyes to recognize the injustice that surrounds me here in the suburbs and open my heart to the compassion that follows....
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