“We are responsible for our own ignorance or, with time and openhearted enlightenment, our own wisdom. We are responsible for ourselves and our deeds or misdeeds in our time and in our own space and will be judged accordingly by succeeding generations.” Isabel Wilkerson Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent
Ultimately we are all bozos on the same bus, chained and enveloped by values and beliefs we inherited at birth. We had no say in the early goings of our life, but we were deeply imprinted with messages that pierced our sense of self.
Ms Wilkerson writes that In a world without caste, being male or female, light or dark, immigrant or native born, would have no bearing on what anyone was perceived as being capable of. I was astounded by her adept and moving interweave of stories, most of which wrenched my soul. Her insights offer incentive to engage in vibrantly re-crafting of how we see and relate to our fellow humans.
The experience of being ‘woke’ both terrifies and liberates. It requires becoming, daily, a devoted seeker of understanding. Rather than calling people out, we learn how to welcome them into our presence in this world. Inevitably that leads beyond acceptance to a kind of love.
Understanding our unique purpose, a place at which we feel no threat, disposes us to empathy, a catalyst for ‘woke.’ The courage to take that path we means we manifest the innate beauty of living together on an astonishing planet.
Susan Burgess-Lent 