Chain Gang

We Are Our Brother's Keeper

The following is an essay I wrote in July of 2017. It’s as meaningful in this moment as it was then. As the milk of human kindness seems to be increasingly rare these days, I think these little reminders of our humanity can be helpful. We really are in this together, even if everyone hasn’t quite figured that out yet.

Last week a group of strangers came together spontaneously to form a human chain to save a family of strangers from drowning in the ocean. No one stopped to blame the victims or rationalize why they should not help people in peril. No one questioned the religious beliefs, nationality, sexual orientation, political beliefs, race, ethnicity, income level, or employment status of the drowning family. None of this was relevant. None of this mattered. A group of strangers jumped up, joined hands, battled the undertow, risked their own safety and security to save people in peril. The family survived, because a group of strangers met the moment.

This story impacted me deeply, because this kind of thing seems to be so rare these days. This story got lost in the endless morass of the crap show in D.C., but I think it's the best news we've had in a long time. All hope is not lost. There are still good people in the world willing to do the right thing despite the risk and without a reward.

"I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures." Lao Tzu

I believe this is the point of being here on this plane. I believe this is what every master came to tell us. I believe that life offers us constant opportunities to practice compassion, kindness, and unconditional love.

Not everyone starts with the same advantages. Not everyone is given the same opportunities. Some of us start on the shore, some of us are born into the undertow. Some of us are strong swimmers, some of us need floaties, flippers, or a lifeboat to stay above water. Chaos can hit people hard, and the fallout from chaos can extend to generations creating devastating cycles of poverty, neglect, and abuse. If you are born poor or become poor, the undertow gets very strong, very quickly. An accident, an illness, the sudden loss of a job, the death of a partner, physical abuse, sexual assault, war, famine, natural disasters...these things can devastate a life and leave even the strongest swimmers gasping for air.

Once you get stuck in the undertow it feels impossible to extricate yourself, especially if you lack the tools to assist your efforts. The more you struggle and try to swim back to shore, the more you get sucked into the current.

"We are each made for goodness, love, and compassion. Our lives are transformed as much as the world is when we live these truths." Desmond Tutu

Sometimes people need a hand up. That means the rest of us need to get up and extend our hand, because it's the right thing to do. This truth has been blurred by the relentless messaging of “personal responsibility" and "entitlement." We're being programmed to retreat into anger and fear and distrust. We’re being seduced by the Big Lie and the illusion of ‘the other.’ We're being duped into seeing the people stuck in the undertow as a threat to our own happiness and success. This is a lie. Most people who need a hand aren't looking for easy answers or a free ride. Most people are just looking for a life preserver so they can get their heads above water to breathe and help to make it back to the shore, so they can put one foot in front of the other and start marching bravely forward. If we could create more effective life preservers and travel assistance, and if we were personally involved in helping others help themselves, I believe more people would succeed. The more people who succeed, the more we all succeed. That's how this works.

"You may call God love; you may call God goodness. But the best name for God is compassion." Meister Eckhart

The problem is the undertow, not the people who find themselves stuck in it. The problem is the rising cost of living and the stagnation of living wages. The problem is a government that vilifies the poor while shamelessly profiteering from for profit prisons, for profit schools, for profit healthcare, offshore manufacturing, corporate donations, insider trading, and perpetual war. The problem is the robber barons have taken full control once again, and they are doing everything they can to hold power and drive out dissent. The problem is that millions of voices have been silenced by intimidation, gerrymandering, and voter suppression. The problem is that a stealth campaign of micro-targeted propaganda through social media and news media has lulled millions into the belief that we are not our brother's keeper and Big Brother has our best interests at heart.

"If we don't change from a society that worships money and power to one that worships compassion and generosity, I think we'll be extinct by mid-century." Patch Adams

What if we rejected this messaging, got up and formed a human chain, and extended our hand to the people caught in the undertow?  What if we stopped asking how they got there and rationalizing allowing them to drown? What would happen if we became a Chain Gang, for compassion, kindness, and good?

"The level of our success is limited only by our imagination and no act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted." Aesop

Last week, a group of strangers came together to save a family of strangers from drowning in the undertow, because it was the right thing to do.

We are our brother's keepers. We are in this together. Don't let anyone make you forget it.

"My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness." The 14th Dalai Lama

xoxo,
Margot