Awakenings

You know, we are are funny creatures, us humans. We dare to think that we have the power to box-in our own species with borders; with laws based on man-made lines drawn on a piece of paper. And I’m not just talking about physical, geographical boundaries.  We dare to limit our own race, the human race,   with our bigoted viewpoints of skin color, country of origin, religious affiliation, political views, gender or social status. We have the audacity to treat some humans as sub-par, less-than- equal to us, or a nuisance to our way of living. We forget that we are all made of the same stuff: we are all dust.   Where do we get the illusion that some dust is more valuable than other dust?  I can look at any of my kind and know that we are the same -the ground is level – we are united by our dust – our clay bodies move and breath and live.  Our blood is the same color.  We all laugh, cry, feel pain and have the greatest need of all – LOVE.   We exist in the miracle of dirt-clod people who carry the choice every second to be lovers or haters on this spinning ball we call earth.

But just as dust is what unites us, so also does the sanctity of life – the fact that we breathe and move and love.  This breath comes from a Source outside our clay-formed bodies, and so we are the same in the fact that the only thing that elevates us to a status above dust is God’s breath of life.  Therefore we are all the same -the ground is level- we are united by the sanctity of God’s life-giving breath.  And so we have no right to play the part of god and box each other in our man-made agendas and borders.  Instead we should celebrate each other, protect the sanctity of each other, and join hands in the commonality that we are no longer just dust anymore – we are sacred clay containers of love and life!

I wrote the following poem after spending a week living with the beautiful hill tribe people of Thailand. We lived in their houses with them, slept on their mats, bathed in their water, ate their food, and played in the streets with them. We danced with them, and worked side-by-side with them. We became one – our assumed differences dissolved as we realized we were the same – we were human brothers and sisters.  And when we said goodbye, it felt like leaving family. I wrote this poem the day after we left while we were in the air:

No Borders

Your skin and my skin
Laughter the same
Tears just as salty
Emotions run deep
Love stirs strong.
Hands clutch for affection
Wanting to be understood
Yearning to communicate.

Hearts intertwined
Locked by commonality
We are the same
I look at you
And I see my face
I work with you
And I feel your heart
I smile with you
And we are one
No borders. No countries.
No race. No religion.
No barriers. No status.
No us versus them.
Just beautiful connection
Familial bond
We are the same
You and I.

Beautiful tears of separation
Tokens and evidence
That we are forever bound – glued
Of the same soul
Of the same dust
Of the same heart
Brothers and sisters
Soul mates.

No language can separate
No skin color can divide
Proof that we are
All made of the same stuff
Proof that love overrides
The barriers we as humans
Like to box each other in.
When will we learn
That we tie ourselves down
And limit our potential for power
With our borders?

O tiny human selfish mind!
Stop! Stop looking in the mirror
Stop your paper-castle-building
Instead: Love, and love, and love!
My nationality
Is all humankind
My kingdom is you.
No Borders.