The Beautiful Answer

Are You Kidding?

Trying to get the images of street violence in Oakland out of my mind today, with little success. As a practicing Buddhist for more than 15 years now, I see why people need to take to the streets to express their frustrations, and why police may feel threatened by their actions. But brutal shows of force have little place in practice, or in the world at large. Most of the time they just come off as exaggerated and fear based, not real solutions in any sense of the word — especially if you end up in the hospital, I suppose. 

Sometimes when I watch the news, or the Internet, where most people actually get their news these days, I often find myself saying, “Are you kidding? You really want me to believe that a few rocks (while wearing riot gear and carrying shields, mind you) justifies throwing people to the ground, firing beanbags at body parts, and forcefully dispersing peaceful protesters?”

You really expect me to believe that? 

Over time, activists have gotten smarter. And now, in the age of of the constantly churning news cycle and ubiquitous cell phone cameras, you can’t get away with stuff you used to do. So the reframe for me today involves seeing, hearing, and witnessing. It involves watching those shaky videos posted online, and feeling in some way connected to these people who are trying to express themselves, and really the majority of us as well. It’s about seeing how just watching, seeing, and validating reveals the truth. 

Little by little, frame by frame, this process shows what’s actually happening in the world. When each one of us is frustrated that nothing is being done, we can click a link and see that yes there is, right there, at this very moment. 

My heart and my thoughts are with you, wherever you are, if you want to slay ignorance and greed. Next step is to create a series of action steps to get there, yes? 

Every Generation Needs One

As a long-time activist and meditator, I’ve been a bit let down by the lack of pissed off energy coming out of the younger generation. I’m a Gen-Xer, and though we didn’t invent pouring into the streets and shouting your lungs out, we certainly perfected the technique during the Reagan administration. All I’ve seen out of the Millennials so far is the desire for more money, mostly crappy hip-hop, planking, and an expensive cell phone. Not exactly the stuff of inspiration. 

So it has been with great pleasure and pride that I have watched as the Wall Street and related protests have spread across the country. For too long, banks and the financial industry, not to mention corporate heads the world over, have gotten away with the kind of stuff that would land the rest of us in jail. For too long, to many have suffered. And just as my generation had punk rock, and Greenham Common, and the No Nukes, feminist and Act Up movements, the kids have this. It’s a moment that will define not only how change is affected from this point forward, but how they define themselves as a generation. I’m sure that there are at least some of them that aren’t obsessed with Prada and a 5G phone. Now it’s time for their voices to be heard. 

To help them along their way, I have been reframing some of the ideas I hold about greed. Not in order to get rid of them, or pretend they don’t exist, but to rob greed of its power over the many, and re-establish a more equitable balance of power. As I saw this taking shape in my mind, my heart swelled with the energy of millions all over the globe. I saw peace, and the protests getting more and more focused, and eventually resulting in legislation, powerful ideas for local community rejuvenation, and more. 

If that’s the only legacy they leave, they’ll have done a fucking great job. 

A Work in Progress

For me, one of the things in the world that most needs reframing is the Yankees. I grew up on Long Island. OK it’s technically New York, though it felt very far away at a certain part of my life. Then, after college I lived in Manhattan for just shy of eight years before fucking off and moving to California. 

I’ve never been able to stand the Yankees, not even as a kid. I rooted for the Mets because they were the lovable losers (until they won the World Series, of course), and George Steinbrenner looked like someone who was mean at best and terrifying at worst. I didn’t like the way he ran his team, I didn’t like the way they always seemed to have these players who were technically great (and expensive, to go along with that), but had very little or no heart. That doesn’t seem to have stopped in the past few decades, as the payroll has ballooned and mercenaries played for very few years in exchange for the highest paycheck possible. OK, the exception is Derek Jeter, but that’s about it. 

I get wanting to make more money for your skills., Athletes especially have a limited number of years they can cash in like this. But the Yankees have continued to get on my nerves. And ever since they won a championship in 2004, the Red Sox aren’t too far behind, either. All of this seems pretty congruent with the Wall Street protests currently going on around the country. Greed doesn’t equal a better anything — especially not a better baseball team. Smaller market teams like the Giants have won it lately with a lot of heart and great pitching. One of them may do it again this year, too. 

So even though it made my husband laugh, I reframed the Yankees today. Instead of concentrating on the sheer greed and lack of soul on the field, I sent positive energy to the people doing the protesting, speaking their minds, doing it for those of us who can’t be there. I sent them a greedy amount of everything they need — food, water, shelter, bathrooms, clean socks and  louder bullhorns. 

And just like that, the Yankees lost, and I’m still taking all the credit. :)