A Message from the Universe

Towards the end of the day I was having a touch of blogger’s remorse when I tweeted:

Just realizing that I wrote possibly the weirdest Christmas Day post I have ever written but that it made complete sense at the time. I gotta sleep more.

And yes, I actually had re-read every single Christmas Day post I’d ever written since 2011 before I wrote yesterday’s. Looking for something? Maybe. Hoping to learn something? Always.

The universe didn’t keep me long. At 4:01 pm I was questioning my choice to look at luxury hoarding and how that causes the persistence of poverty in Columbia/HoCo and at 5:57 pm this tweet from Erika Chavarria of Columbia Community Care:

@mutualaidCCC Family,

We are so excited to share our new Columbia Community Care Peace & Justice Center (CCCPJC) FB page!! Check it out!!

Please also sign our petition of support for the creation of CCCPJC! actionnetwork.org/petitions/colu…

facebook.com/Columbia-Commu…

Happy Holidays!!!

And there it was. A very public call. A challenge to create something lasting that will change the future. An alternative to the continuous cycle of poverty and injustice.

From the online petition:

There are needs in our community that extend far beyond the needs of just physical survival. If we only focus on basic needs of survival, we have failed our neighbors and ourselves. As educators, we know the importance of creating safe spaces for mental, emotional well being and healing. We must provide spaces for development of essential skills, in depth learning and critical thinking. All of this is necessary so that our young people and communities not only survive, but thrive and prosper to their fullest potential.

Take a look at their petition to learn more. Check out their new Facebook page. This is an initiative which will build a stronger community.

Today is a day when many of us will be celebrating with a little extra. I’m thinking a lot about those of us in our community who won’t be. Imagine what our community could be like if we were excited about letting those opportunities for joy flow out to others for whom they are all too rare.

We are blessed to have people like Ms. Chavarria and the Columbia Community Care Peace and Justice Center team who are truly excited to create opportunities for joy to flow out to others. We have the opportunity to join them. We have a chance to make our voices louder against hatred, intolerance, and selfishness.

We are invited to cast our lot with the Erika Strauss Chavarria’s of our community and not with Sally Brown.

So maybe that wasn’t such a weird blog post after all.

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