“Move beyond tolerance. We are not on this planet to tolerate each other. We are here to love each other. We are here to look out for each other. We are here to see each other reach our individual and collective potential. Tolerance is a low-level energy; it has no wings.” -Cleo Wade from her book “Heart Talk: Poetic Wisdom for A Better Life”.

I’m at a loss. What in the world is there to say when we are being berated with incessant mass shootings, persistent murders of innocent black people, and disquieting displays of Asian hate - all amidst a pandemic that has taken more than half a million lives and counting. My heart hurts and while the solutions seem so obvious, the path remains marred with obstacles and ever-changing goal posts. 

‘It should be up to the people not the government’ they said. 

So, we made signs, signed petitions and petitioned our elected officials. 

But they didn’t like the results so they changed the rules of the game.

We’ve learned that its ok to turn off the news when it’s too much, to take our breaks from social media - but this time it’s not helping. I’m struggling to find the release valve to lessen the anxious pressure building in my chest. And then I think about how all the individuals and communities directly affected by the barrage of violent reports must feel. Their release valves were buried long ago below layers of fear and frustration. Do our current efforts even scratch the surface?

I have a painting in my office by the artist Kai Skye (formerly Brian Andreas) that reads: 

“Of course I want to save the world she said, but I was hoping to do it from the comfort of my regular life.”

It hangs there as a personal reminder that growth and change are difficult and uncomfortable; that progress and sameness cannot coexist. 

Our conversations around race, hate, systemic inequality and suppression must continue. It is going to take more than one presidential election, several marches and lawn signs to make positive change. Keep reading, keep educating, keep daring to step out of regular life, out of the tolerance and into the uncomfortable.

Another mass shooting

Another senseless murder

Another hate crime

Another life lost

Another, another, another…

People are still scared, dying and grieving. 

And we’re tolerating it.

But we don’t have to… and we shouldn’t.