Pee in the Pool

What a month it has been!

The Supreme Court has rocked our boats by relieving worries about affordable health care and bringing joy to same sex couples giving them the opportunity for marriage and divorce like the rest of us have so long endured!
The Confederate flag is about to assume a new place in history with an overdue and very graceless removal.
And most important, as they read the bible in their place of worship, nine lives were slain in the name of....the name of what? White supremacy, godlessness, racism?

I guess it's folklore or urban legend, as social media would call it, but I've heard that there is a chemical that can be placed in a swimming pool to detect the presence of urine. Come on. Be honest. How many of us have never peed in a pool.

I believe our country is the swimming pool. And guess what? President Obama's election was the chemical released into that pool. Except in this case, it was not urine that was discovered. No. The election of a black man to govern our country, brought racism to the surface. It's just like the pee. We hoped it wasn't, but we suspected racism was there all along.And we were right. It was just lying dormant, like a virus. Add the black man, and the virus of racism came right to the surface - in our attitudes, in our media, in our actions.

I so remember the day of Barack Obama's inauguration. The optimistic among us truly felt we were witnessing the beginning of new era - an era of love, compassion for one another, and a coming together like our nation had never felt before. Our new President sincerely believed his words and we enthusiastically joined in the joy and prospect of change and peace.

The derogatory and hateful comments aimed at our President have turned my stomach and saddened my heart. Some disagreement has been politically and ideologically construed, but many more have their roots in the color of his skin. The gains we thought had been made in race relations, seem to have dropped into quick sand.

The racial slurs, and inflammatory cartoons and articles toward minorities, have made me angry, hurt, and bewildered. The conscious and vocal attitude of bigotry have moved me to anger and insult. I've wanted to scream, more than once - Everybody out of the pool! It's dirty water, it's tainted, it's full of hatred, and yes, urine.

On the days when I believe in prayer, I pray that the end does justify the means. That the turmoil we are witnessing now is necessary to real change - that the horrible attitudes and hateful actions of the few, will open the hearts and minds of the learned, the lowly, the elderly, the poor, the rich, the white, the black - all Americans, all humans.

I'm barely able to handle one emotion at a time and so the events of the last few weeks have my brain about to burst. Juggling anger and sadness at racism, confusion with the marriage equality laws, the Confederate flag's removal, and the prospect of health insurance being yanked from millions, has had the committee in my head all participating in a filibuster, simultaneously.

But once I shushed the committee, I have, with much gratitude, found again a deep pride and hope for a nation that is so new and free that it can experience and adapt to monumental change, just as the minds and hearts of our people can and will, accept and expand. THIS is my prayer and my dream. I hope you share it too.