Stand Up Against Hate and Violence: Vote

This is not the post I had planned to write today.

I had intended to write some kind of inspiring post about animals and interspecies communication…maybe with some cute chicken photos. That post will come sometime, but not today.

Today, I have to write about what is happening in my country and in our world.

I am heartbroken, disgusted, and outraged by the upwelling of hatred, political violence, and fascism here in the US and in so many places in the world.

I am angry and heartbroken, but I am not surprised. I have seen this coming for a long, long time.

I was raised in a fundamentalist christian cult that embraced the ideology of christian nationalism. I grew up in that world, a world that actively promoted the disintegration of the principles of the separation of church and state; a patriarchal world that systemically encouraged violence toward women, children, and animals; a world that was dangerously racist, homophobic, and which explicitly and implicitly condoned violence in many forms toward anyone who was “other.”

I spent the first 17 years of my life immersed in exactly the kind of racist, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBTQ, anti-feminist, anti-democracy rhetoric that seems to have “burst” onto the national stage “all of a sudden” here in the US, but in reality has been cultivated deliberately, cunningly, and carefully for a long, long time.

I survived this world, thanks to the animals, a piano teacher who cared about me, my talent for music, which was my ticket “out” and into the broader world, and grace.

So I am horrified, but I am not surprised.

For almost all of my time as a professional animal communicator and teacher, I have steadfastly tried to avoid using my professional, public platform to speak about politics. I have wanted to create a “big tent” that can include everyone who wishes to understand animals more clearly and open to their own innate ability to hear, understand, and connect with the other-than-human world in this way. My work is non-partisan, and I have wanted to avoid any kind of discourse that could be used to further divide our world, rather than focusing on what unites us.

However, in the last several years, I have been questioning this approach, especially as I witness the ongoing violent threats to democracy, the erosion of civil rights, women’s rights, animal and environmental protections, and the continuing horrendous destruction of our planet home.

I’ve been dismayed to see elements of conspiracy and disinformation cults (“conspirituality”) infiltrate communities that I have loved: yoga communities, the holistic/natural wellness world, the “spiritual” and “metaphysical” worlds. Perhaps because I have first-hand experience with the techniques and methods of cult mind control, I can understand how easy it is for people to get sucked in…and how difficult it can be for them to get out.

People I love have been violently assaulted in hate crimes. People I love have died from Covid as a result of believing conspiracy-laden lies promoted by some in the yoga and holistic wellness spaces. People I love have been terrorized by their neighbors simply for who they love and how they look.

It has to stop, and we cannot remain silent, naive, or whitewash it all with the new age “love and light, I don’t really pay attention to politics, it’s so 3-D.”

To that end, I am imploring all Americans to vote in our upcoming midterm election on or before Nov. 8. I love the way that this video from Mind Our Democracy describes democratic activism as an offering of our spiritual practice and love:

Does it matter? Yes, it does.

It matters for the animals, it matters for the Earth, it matters for the dignity of all beings. Preserving democracy in the US and around the world, imperfect as it is, is imperative.

I don’t have all of the answers, but I do know that refusing to see, refusing to act, is a sure way for us to tacitly endorse the forces that are seeking to destroy the earth…animals…our freedom to live the way we choose to live…and what remains of our fragile democracies not just here in the US, but in so many places around the world.

For me, knowing that I have a voice, and choosing to keep silent and not use it, is not an option. It would go against everything I have stood for, everything that means the most to me.

As participated in early voting last week at my local community center, I felt immense gratitude.

Gratitude that I could vote without intimidation by people with guns, unlike in other places in this country, including my former home state of Arizona.

Gratitude for the poll workers, for my fellow citizens, for this ritual of our citizenship. People were safe in this polling place, respectful and kind to each other, and serious about what they were doing, whether working or voting.

I thanked each poll worker who helped me, knowing that in many other places in this country, people in these community service jobs have had their lives threatened.

As I left the community center, I was filled with emotion as I realized that this small act, this ritual of our democracy which used to be a given, is precious, and not to be taken for granted, and may or may not continue in the future. It is small act for each of us individually, but collectively, it is huge.

Voting is non-partisan. Democracy depends on participation…when we don’t participate, we forfeit the agency we have to shape the system into one that truly represents us and our values.

If you are here in the US, please join me in voting. Don’t sit this one out. Vote your values, your conscience, your heart. We can get through this dark time, and we can be stronger and better for it. We must use our voices to peacefully stand up against the voices of hatred, of violence, and of domination by a minority.

Fascism and violent extremism are not new in the United States, or in many other places around the world, but they must not win again. We are not the first generation to have faced this. Perhaps, if enough of us stand up, we can be the last.

If you are not in the US, please share this post with your American friends, and also do what you are able to do in your own countries. This is a global crisis, and it requires all of us to raise our voices, shine our light, and stand up for our values and for a more peaceful, tolerant, respectful, safe world for all.

Resources:

Mind Our Democracy is a community of meditation, mindfulness, and yoga practitioners who recognize voting as an extension of contemplative practice. When we participate regularly and fully in our democracy, we protect its integrity and contribute to our collective well-being.

Confronting Christofascism: Healing the Evangelical Wound by Carolyn Baker. I was profoundly impacted by this important and powerful book. Carolyn grew up in the same system I did, and her ability to articulate and trace the roots of fascism in fundamentalist Christianity, as well as her sharing of her own experiences, so similar to mine, was affirming, in a frightening and horrific kind of way. If you want to learn more about this history, I encourage you to check out this excellent book (as well as her many others.)