Watching the opening ceremony of the 2018 Olympics, some
truths struck me: Unity and Community is all any of us can contribute to our
existence and in so doing make this life a better place.
What do I mean by that?
I’m so glad that you too had that question. If you haven’t met me yet, I’m pretty intense. One random thought can consume me until I unknot it. So here I am, on a Sunday morning at 5 a.m., unknotting truth. I realized when watching the ceremony that my entire life has been lived in Hollywood, CA doing just this, seeking truth in unity and community.
My first vivid experience arose during the first ten years
of my life, living on the streets with my fellow brethren, my best friend
(we’ll call him T) and I brought together all the children of the community to
our apartment building. There was an empty corner that shielded us from the
weather. We set up a makeshift classroom there. We sat them down and spent
endless hours with them. I taught them and helped them with their homework and when
I was done loving on their minds and souls, T took us onto the yard and filled
our bodies with boundless energy-basketball, baseball, tag… we played until we collapsed
on the grass or huddled around the washing machine and dryer to stay warm. We loved each other and together felt
boundless.
Life’s lessons aren’t measured by one simple season
though. I rediscovered this need for
community in middle school, walking the crowded halls and feeling empty till a
short Latina sista pulled me aside with her realization, “Deep down we are all
skeletons and if you ignore everything else that’s layered over it, we are no
different. Maybe, just maybe we need to come together and be one crew-the
Skeleton crew.” And so we began, we united-black, white, Asian, female, male,
Armenian, Hispanic… we pulled together all of the misfits we can find that felt
as we did and we created our own community. We shared boundless love amongst
ourselves when we lacked it elsewhere and made the days pass by with the sweetest
of flavors. And in time, as we built each other up, we felt like we belonged on
this planet, together, loved regardless of our differences.
I tripped into such a community in high school. I found
myself in Campus News by chance and was wrapped in love by a group who focused
on relaying truth across the airwaves into the larger community. Recently one
of my mentors posted hundreds of pictures across years in which different
groups shared the same feeling of truth and community within the structure of
Campus News, helping me realize that I am not alone in my need to feel
belonging. We learned to focus our minds, to use the need for community as a
means to achieve greater things.
Who knew that one opening ceremony would lead to such
immense ponderings? God did. He’s made us who we are. I for instance, he’s
given a depth too that often comes off as a bit too intense. I reside in the
deep and seek truth and community. I don’t do well with surface level chatter,
can’t hold senseless trivia in my mind, and am drawn to those most different
from me. But knowing him or at least beginning to know him, I have come to
realize that he does this intentionally. He’s offered me experiences along the
way to help shape my perceptions (just as your experiences have come to shape
who you are) and now I find myself drawn to kindred spirits who in turn seek
truth, love, and community.
The most intense of experiences though occurred during my
eight months of hell. The community that surrounded me and lifted me up during
my chemotherapy consisted of the most unique of souls. R fed me- he sent food
every few weeks. Even when I felt as though I could not hold any food down, the
thought that he shared his love boundlessly through the act of cooking fueled
me forward. I cried as I unpacked the food, fortunate he could not see and
blessed him for loving purely. My friend S must have had a ton of things to do
on Saturdays-he taught five days a week, sometimes six, but every few weeks
he’d grace my door and fill my hours with writing. He forced my mind to stay
fresh. He challenged me to put typewriter to thought and share my soul using
the typed word. He showed me that community, true community, happens in spite
of differences-true community does not see color or shape, distance, or attitude-
it recognizes something deeper within us and aims at maintaining the depths of
what God wants us to learn from this life-truth, love, and community are
powerful agents of change and at times are the best weapons in the face of
fear, doubt, and pain.
There were so many that contributed to carrying me through
my personal hell, individuals who made time to sit with me, read with me, make
me laugh, cry, eat, walk, and simply be. And for each and every one of them my
soul raises a prayer in awe that they knew truth and realized our
interconnectedness long before I did, that they did not let me walk this path
in isolation.
So I challenge you to do the same. If you know of a person
who is breaking, don’t turn away. You don’t have to do much. Sitting with them
is sometimes enough to spark their flame. Laughter always heals, so if you’re
quick with a joke-share it. A text
telling them that they matter will light up their lives too. Go beyond your
comfort zone, reach out and share your love, and as Robert Frost stated in his
poem, “A Road Not Taken,” doing so has “made all the difference.”
The opening ceremonies of the 2018 Olympics spoke volumes to
my soul because of this fact. Watching the dance where yin/yang were represented
via a communal dance. Where John Lennon’s song blasted in unison by four
different Korean artists, when the torch was carried and lit by three youths
who stood together at the top of the stairs, raising up their torch as one,
before it was skated effortlessly towards the basin. All of this reminded me
that what I had forever seen as a curse- my inability to remain true to the
“nationality” I was born to, to the people I should call my own, was in fact a
blessing.
Why see color when we have one soul? Why hold back when we
are united by words? Why deny anybody a place in my heart, when that’s all we
can give each other on this planet? For trust me, when on one’s deathbed, no
thoughts of money or status fill one’s mind. King Tut couldn’t take it with him
my friends, and you won’t be able to either!
But what you can do is hold tight to the realization that
you are one small part of a greater whole, that your life matters and resonates
in the life of others, that sharing of love is the one pure truth we can wrap
around our shoulders as we each meet our makers. And, this life holds so many
opportunities to do just this. It’s not hard. Be present in every moment and
when the need arises, don’t talk yourself down the precipice with doubt-jump!
Act! Love…
So today, a week till my six month Oncology appointment I sit at
peace in the darkness (for literally it is dark right now, 5:30 a.m. to be
exact) and I feel only light at the community I have been given to stand beside
me, to worship with me, meditate on truths, to break my body and put it back
together again on a weekly basis, to stick me with needles and listen to my
fears, and to help me realize that I am not alone, for even though each of our
journeys is a solitary one and we must walk our paths by ourselves, we need not
do it in isolation. Let the kindred spirits in. Be a kindred spirit, join a
path, and light it with love and truth.
* * * * *
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Till next time, go live, thrive, have fun, and do great things!
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