I look out at the world and sometimes I’m moved to tears when I see all the fear and hate. I see companies trying to take away land from Native Americans at Standing Rock, refugees without a safe place to call home. I see bigotry and misogyny. I see fear all around.
 
There is so much self-made division that sometimes it's overwhelming. In these moments, I breathe, I collect myself, I look:

I see connections. Millions of them in fact...
Connections that trail from one lifetime to the next.
Connections that bond species in intricate fashions-
Like a spider web that connects to the bolter of a barn
Protecting the horses from flies.
I wonder at times if I’m the only one that sees it-
The way our actions ripple and nudge lives of our fellow beings...
Do we realize that we are not solely our own?
But rather the stewards of all the divine splendor before us...

From grandest whale swimming in the sea
To the smallest snail slugging along
All are connected.
One drop of water seems like not much to behold,
But when drop upon drop fall,
It fills the lakes and seas
Sustaining all below.

Our actions [or inactions] I think can be like that too.
If we spill a drop of blood of our brother,
Does it not lead to shedding of tears of their loved ones?
If we slaughter a ewe,
Does her lamb not cry?
I cry for the horror that sometimes we unleash in our own lives.
I weep when hatred is unleashed upon my fellow beings
From the lack of understanding that we all belong to one another.
We are humanity intimately entwined at the hip of existence.
I am connected. 

Every breath I share the air with my fellow beings.
Every food I eat (even if a plant) was once a life.
I bow at the great divine that lies around me,
Showing the fantastic connection that exists- love.
For love can weave all together...

It will outshine hate and fear- every single time.
I know it may seem all impossible,
But many beautiful possibilities once started as such-
They started out as whispers of dreams
Uttered in the darkness of night.
They started in the shadows
Where it seemed all hope had faded,
But then a spark came
Rekindled by one revolutionary soul
Who wouldn’t give up hope.
She found her soul sisters and brothers
Who also thought their hope had faded,
But you one cannot extinguish the flame
That is fostered out of love and human kindness
In those fine values we may still be lead
To the other side of this grey curtain.
Into something beautiful, wild, and free.
And we will be awestruck in wonder
at the great things we did
in connections of love.

These fine threads wove
with each kind word spoken,
with each lovely deed performed,
every time we gave our hearts
to our fellow beings in loving service.
Each time I released the spider into her home.
And when hate and fear emerged,
I chose to speak peace and love.
I understand my actions are like ripples in the pond
touching lives beyond what I can see.