If you talk to [them]* they will talk with you, and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them you will not know them, and what you do not know you will fear. What one fears one destroys.

Chief Dan George

April is National Stress Awareness Month. Like mosquitoes that breed in stagnant water, stress multiplies in states of fear. As discussed in an earlier post, chronic stress is associated with disease states. In the name of breaking this vicious cycle, can we find it within ourselves to cultivate the attitudes of civility and non-hostility toward those whom we do not like, toward those whose views oppose our own? Yeah–tall order, ain’t it. I’m not even trying to say I’m there. But as I see it, in so doing we contribute to the healing of hatred in the world, we soften the walls that separate, we make communication possible, we respect viewpoints other than our own, we give some thought to the world we want our children’s children to inhabit.

To do so requires we recognize our own selfishness, our own fear and hatred, our own capacity for change. What courage and humility this takes! Who can see with clear eyes the hatred that dwells within and love it, go toward it, reveal it, witness it, understand it, surrender a space for Truth to touch it, and restore it to its original perfection? Again and again like ore in the furnace yielding pure gold?

*: I’ve replaced animals in the original quote with the bracketed in hopes of widening its applicability.

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