Photo by Maria Oswalt on Unsplash
Are you waiting for a ‘fix’ that will settle our uncertain time? We stand at the dawn of a new year, a new administration, and the widespread dissemination of vaccines that have the power to curtail a deadly global virus. But we are hardly on solid ground. People are dying every day in numbers that exceed the death toll of our most devastating wars, more than 85 million Americans report difficulty in meeting basic economic needs, an angry vocal minority believe that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, and tens of millions of Americans feel left out – excluded from reliable healthcare, equal opportunity, and the comfort knowing they can drive risk-free to get a gallon of milk. What could possibly be a fix in all of this? The answer may surprise you….
To start off, I have to tell you that I have been noticing how many of us cling to a ‘fav’ fix in all this uncertainty. These favorites come in all shapes and sizes. For some, President Elect Biden’s economic stimulus package is the needed elixir. For others, it is the order to de-fund local police forces and reorient monies to community building. There are thousands of ‘fixes’, too many to name. Here is the real catch; regardless of their numbers no fix alone is the ‘right one’ unless it has a very special component.
This very special component is right in front of us. You may have already guessed it. It is you.
Our society convinces us to look for answers through, past, over, and around who we are. We are socialized to look for answers elsewhere; in new policies, programs, jobs, a special relationship, or even zero’s in a checking account. These external answers may be part of your answer, but without your own voice, none will ever be sufficient.
Your voice is required to navigate uncertainty. In its presence, you draw upon boundary-less energy and strength that is inaccessible by other means.
Exercising voice can happen at the kitchen table, sitting quietly next to a friend in need, or on the floor of the U.S. Senate. The location and size of the stage you choose matters not, that you are willing to do so means everything.
Paralympian Melissa Stockwell shared a perspective on voice and our beliefs in a June 2019 piece (NY Times, Learning, June 7, 2019, pg L2). She said.
“I can honestly say I’ve done more in my life with one leg than I ever would have done with two, but I have come to see that I was capable of accomplishing just as much with two legs. Those abilities were always within me. So, I guess the bigger question is how do you skip the traumatic part? A huge part of doing that is simply believing that you can, believing that there is more in you.”
You.
May you have the courage to consider your voice and the temerity to share it with all of us.
Linda R. email me at linda@lindarossetti.com or visit my website
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