Wonder what that picture of a burning candle is at the bottom of this page?  I looked at the calendar October 11th is Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar and a time for atonement, repentance, and fasting.  I know how solemn and important this moment is.  I honor various traditions.  I have long felt that regardless of one’s faith, finding occasions for self-reflection, where your own failings with honesty and clarity, is a necessary and worthy exercise.  We live in a time where the divides between us are stark and seem to be growing wider and more inescapable.  We are living in a moment of rancor, when anger, fear, and despair are widespread.  We can see selfishness run amok; selfishness that is proving deadly not to mention climate crisis.  We are also witnessing lies, and an increase in violence. Sustained reflection is required to try to change who we are.  We must change our ways to thrive. I often ask myself, what any of us can do in the face of these destructive forces against progress and hope. I also recognize the problems we face require broad and sustained action. 

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We could start by attempting to do one small thing that makes our fellow human beings and the natural world better.  Reaching out to even one person who you know may be lonely or angry, picking up a little trash in a park or wherever we walk through, acknowledging and bringing in the awareness of violence and divisiveness that exists in our communities, drug addiction, bullying just to name a few.  We can choose to end a hurtful line of discourse, microaggression, and systemic ISMs (sexism, racism etc. etc.).  From our small actions can come larger ones.  Our momentum can build.  We can join and partner with many local volunteer efforts.  There are many organizations locally involved in reducing drug addiction, suicide prevention, gun violence control, cleaning and sustaining clean environment, various disease awareness and prevention. The list is endless.  Let us see what we feel can be improved and then start a small movement to fix it.  What is your passion and what gives you life?  Recognize that we all can do so much more and have great potential.  Remember we talked about Boiling water, Olympians etc. in our meeting on August 11th Cabinet meeting.  We all can choose at one of the countless inflection points of our lives to opt for positive action.  Bottom line, just IMAGINE how we can change the world by changing ourselves.  Following the words of Mahatma Gandhi: “BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD”.