Finding Peace Within & Peaceful Friends to Protest with


 

It is hard not to feel helpless and overwhelmed with life in America today. It is hard to know where to trust the news because it all seems slanted in one direction or the other – to the left or right. It all feels confusing, but there's a strong sense within me that the attack on immigrants in the United States feels wrong, and the leadership by Donald Trump feels unsettling.

I watched my pastor friend’s message about the example of the Monks walking for peace and her message that peace begins within us. This message of finding peace within the self first is important, and I also know that it is necessary for me to find peaceful networks of others who share similar values, even if our political views differ. Otherwise, it's quite disorienting to exist isolated in a community that largely supports what seems to be White Christian Nationalism.

This week I protested ICE brutality with a few other dedicated citizens in Rabun, and I was happy to see that we received more positive feedback on the street than expected. Even on the county facebook bulletin board, the overall likes and love emojis outnumbered the laughing and angry emojis. The comments of course trended negatively, but I think that's because most intelligent people have given up the keyboard wars on facebook. The overall experience was reassuring in a place where I can otherwise feel like an isolated voice standing up for my values as a psychologist and as a Christian.

I am hopeful about beginning Divinity school at Duke in the fall – to meet other educated people with similar spiritual values and critical thinking skills to see beyond the mess of politics in our country right now. I often feel like my social justice advocacy friends and academic friends do not relate to my religious values, and I find those who relate to my love of Jesus want nothing to do with Social Justice Advocacy. In graduate school, I found a place where these two worlds met as I transcribed stories about the lives of social justice advocate leaders in academia who often came from religious backgrounds. When political issues began to heat up again this fall with the deployment of ICE agents in our cities across America, I knew I had to do something to reconnect with the academic and spiritual community outside the reach of this small town. 

I'm so thankful that I can feel hopeful about beginning this next chapter of my life because I think it will provide tools and connections to contribute in a positive, grounded way to our future - both as a psychologist and a Christian.  

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