The Mirror Knows

I'm struggling.

Are we really that unique?  Since time immemorial, people have sought power and greed.  They need to be center stage, they have all the toys and goodies and they could care less about you.  But you already know that. If you have gotten beyond first grade, you know it well.

You also know about the bully on the playground.  Maybe you also know what lies beneath a bully - yes, the same thing that haunts you - lots of fear.  Bullies are anything but courageous.  And, it is sad. But no sadder than those who allow this person to be the bully.  The 1% of the playground bully garners all the privileges of the 99% percent who just stand there and take it.

It isn't my responsibility, or anyone elses for that matter to make the bully go away.  It is however, your responsibility.  That is what self-leadership is all about.  Standing up, speaking out.

I don't go on Facebook much these days.  And yes, I have deleted a few, unfollowed a lot and prefer to stay close to those who are near and dear to my heart.  They share, they stand tall, they speak out.  Well, most of them.

In a recent conversation with some folks I think a lot of, the talk came around to what is going on in the world.  I suggested that violence isn't new.  That it has been around since the bully on the playground.  Donald Trump is one.  He is here for a reason.

Most of the folks in the conversation said there are no leaders anymore.  I was taken aback, dropped my shoulders, softened my lips and asked why they didn't step forward.

"I am simply not a leader," but I will follow one.

"How would you know who was a leader," I asked.

"Oh, I would know," they said.

Paul Hawken in his book, Blessed Unrest, reminds us that there are no centralized leaders in the new way of being.  Richard Schwartz, Ph.D., writes in You Are The One You Have Been Waiting For, that the way in the new awareness is self-leadership.

I struggle with Facebook posters that whip out a few visual bites pointed toward the 1% that they are to blame for your lot in life.  The reality is, we need to look straight into the mirror to see our part.

Now we've all been around folks who get in touch only when they need us, we see right through them.  We don't put too much effort into them.  They are users.  The saddest of the sad.  They want us to do their work.

The past few years,  my time has been devoted to intense studying.  To do this meant to pare my social life down quite a bit.  To allow only a select few in, those that have a history with me.  Those who want more than a quick hit and run text.  The universe sees beyond all of that.  All of the Facebook posts that blame the republicans, the democrats, blame the 1%.  You wonder how the bully made it to the playground.  Look into the mirror.