No Shortage of Humanity

Living gratefully today, I appreciate the quiet, and the gentle sounds my ears are allowing me to hear. I also appreciate the clementines I have been enjoying and all who helped bring them to me.

When an opportunity came up to create written word to honor Black History Month at my school, I set to work. The inspiration for any and all art, all students and staff invited to participate, was this quote from Desmond Tutu: "My humanity is bound up in yours. For we can only be human together."

I am still coming to understand my white privilege and I also know what marginalization feels like. I don't know what it is like to be discriminated against because of my skin color, but I do know what it is like to feel less than, to be invisible. I tapped into my own humanity.  I had already written a poem last fall that became a good start. I built from there. Here is what I created:

In Desmond Tutu’s words: 

“My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.” 

In my own words: 

Invisible 

The deepest pain

we can inflict 

on another 

is to be unseeing,

unhearing,

rendering them

invisible. 

It erases 

their worth, 

diminishes ours. How do we help someone become visible? 

Becoming Visible

The most profound gift

we can extend to another

is our undivided attention.

The most incredible gift

we can receive from another

is their story in their words. And when we share our stories there is. . . 

No Shortage of Humanity 

We come in all colors, shapes, sizes, and genders. We speak many languages and have numerous sacred traditions. We celebrate holidays and birthdays. We honor sunrises, sunsets, Nature’s seasons, and life’s seasons. We live, love, work and play, read, write, sing and dance. We pray, smile, laugh and cry. 

A common language of the heart unites us, no matter what little corner of this world we each call home. 

And yet an abundance of judgment and intolerance, misinformation and fear, unravels our connections. Greed and power impede. Competition divides. We turn a blind eye and a deaf ear. Our hearts and minds close. We have clenched fists instead of open arms and helping hands. We are losing ground, losing our souls. losing our humanity. 

Pause. Listen. Notice. Hear. Feel. Embrace. Love. See each other for who we are–amazing and unique examples of humanity, precious members of humankind. 

© Lisa Valentine 

Here it is performed on video, recorded by me at home. I performed it live at school, after working hard to revise it and commit it to memory. A labor of love. It was a small group of 25 or so who heard it. Two students later told me it gave them goose bumps. The ultimate compliment.

Whether you read it, listen to it, or both, my hope is that it gives you hope, that it gives you a reminder that this work is for all of us. We are each part of humanity. Each day, with each action or inaction, we are either helping or hindering. Doing nothing doesn't exist. Today, my hope is to help more than I hinder. Onward!