Last night Wister died. He couldn’t fight that good fight anymore.  He had to let go of this mortal life.  And while no one really knew he was heading to heaven in that particular evening’s light, they all gathered.  His pastor. 
His loving wife.  His niece and nephew.  And that fabulous circle of 5 friends who love each other and who love laughter over meals.  They all showed up.  And then, Wister, said good-bye.  
   
This morning on my way to work, I saw a parked truck by the side of the road.  And then I saw a man standing beside a deer on the ground. It was apparent that this driver had hit the deer.  But what took my breath
away was that the deer was still alive.  He was down on the ground, but his head was erect… held up as if he were saying, “I will die with dignity.”  The deer held his head that way with his eyes closed, and all the while,
the man stood beside him in a meditative stance of homage.  Together they waited.
 
Tonight when I came home from a fresh, brisk walk, my neighbor from across the street came over. She said she had something sad to share. She said today the police came to the house beside mine and found this neighbor dead.  Her friends at work reported that she had not come in for a couple of days and that they could not reach her.  And so the police came and found a way into her house.They said she died on Sunday most likely due to a diabetic coma.  She died Sunday… as I went to church… as I cut the grass… as I played with my little dog in the yard.  She died alone… and no one realized this until today.
 
I am also aware of the news of yet another school shooting in our nation.  A teacher died.  Children were injured.  And the shooter, a child of 12 years of age, took his own life as well.
 
We don’t know the whys or the whens. 
We don’t know what will happen on any given day as life is complex, unexpected, and utterly unfair. 
But tonight as the autumn leaves rustle and darkness settles in, I hold before me
Wister,
my neighbor,
a teacher and a student,
and a deer. 
I inscribe you to my memory and hold you to my heart…

Oh, my.  Let’s just say it.  The world is very divided these days.  Houses are shoved up against one another, and yet the eyes of neighbors never meet.  Families eat in cars on their way to the long lists of activities they must attend in order to be ‘well-rounded’ and end up yelling at one another as they pile out at home around 9pm. 
Then there is this group of unique souls who feel they are less understood, more in need, more discriminated against, and more deserving of any number of requests… and even more so than that other group of unique souls who feel and think they are also less understood, more in need, more discriminated against and more deserving. Not to mention that our nation is in a government shutdown, and the push and pull of bullheaded opinions holds us all at ransom.
 
The majority of people I encounter are exhausted and exhaustion leads to overwhelm and overwhelm leads to survival mode which leads to self centeredness which leads to broken relationships.  We can keep on this path. 
We can choose to lose our minds and our souls.  We can forget that the most precious gift we have in this life is each other, and we can continue to totally blow it all up.  We can take our stands, knock down the other opinion, make sure we are right, and prove that our voice is the loudest and most worthy of respect.  But until we slow this boat down, until we re-prioritize our goals and reach for dreams that build a compassionate, humane world… division will remain the captor.

Of course, it’s complicated.  Of course it would be excellent if I could lay out a plan of attack.  Right? Isn’t that what you are now waiting for? I’ve named the problem, but now I need to unfold the map and offer you the course that will take you from this bloody mess to the rainbow’s end.  The problem is (from my meager perspective) we each have to figure this out in ways that mean something to us.  We’re so busy ‘achieving’ that we can’t hear ourselves or our souls.  We don’t know what we really feel or think because there’s just no freaking time to feel or think from that deep place of knowing. Maybe you are one of the truly blessed people in this life who feel clear and pure and connected to your soul, your self, and those around you.  If so, stay the course. 
But if you are still wishing I would give you that precious, secret map to make sense out of this life as it is right now… I pray you what you need to make peace.  I am here writing these words, and I am praying for you and for me.  
  
‘They’aren’t going to fix this. ‘They’ aren’t going to magically wake up and agree with ‘us’.  It’s going to take a wider perspective to see that ‘they’ are actually ‘us’.  I’m taking my soul time this morning to get my feet back up under me, and then, I’m going to go to work with brighter eyes.  If we can’t build bridges where we are… we’ll never learn to build them nationwide or worldwide.  If we can’t engage the peace born within us, it will certainly be an ongoing task to make peace with those around us.  And if we want the world around us to change, to heal, to become a place of hope and promise once again… then we must, as our beloved Gandhi said become the change. 

All you or I can do this day is to be present to the truest voice inside and to be true in loving and compassionate ways to those around us.  And when nothing, and I mean nothing, makes any sense whatsoever… take the hand of a child or an elder and sit quietly for a time.  Look into their eyes.  Feel the wisdom in their hands.  Listen
to the words beneath their words… and maybe some sense will begin to return. 
It’s always about relationships. 
Everything.  Is.  About. Relationships.   
Bridge the divide.