reconciliation

Recently, I spent one of the best weekends I have ever had, with my best friend, Laurie, on a little strip of beach on the Washington coast that we go to every year. Besides always being blown away by the sheer rugged beauty of the place I was astounded by some of the journeys Laurie and I have taken this year to heal the past and live healthy and whole in the present...mostly I was confronted with something I wanted to share with my friends and anyone still reading here - and that is that, regardless of the bumps, bruises, scars we all carry from our pasts, we - she and I, everyone - have so much love inside of us. We all have this power to forgive, to reconcile with those who have hurt us, to rise above, and give up being right long enough to just be with the people who are important to us.

I was reminded of a piece of writing that I first saw right after gulf war v 2.0 started:

I only learned last year,
That I can stop whatever violence
starts with me

I only learned last year
That love is infinitely more
interesting and more exciting and
more powerful than really
winning or really losing a fight

I only learned last year
That all war leads to death and
that all love leads away from death

-June Jordan