Carol A. Hand
Finding common ground,
It’s not as easy as it sounds
Just try it once or twice
Crossing divides
into discomfort and uncertainty
Suddenly your attention is heightened
Searching intently, listening deeply for clues
about how to act, what to say
unless, of course, you think you’re there to save others
But it’s definitely worth trying in either case
You’ll learn more about yourself and the world
than you ever thought possible
***
***
It seems in divisive times such as these
We need more peace-builder boundary spanners
People who genuinely want to understand
The essence of our shared humanity
***
Voices from the Margins 
And let the people say, “Amen!”
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Than you so much for your lovely comments, Ron. ❤
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Peace-builder Boundary Spanners. I love this Carol. There are so many trying to pull us apart, and they often succeed. We need to reach across the divide, not be cause we want to save someone or convert them to our ideology, but because we share a common humanity.
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Thank you so much for sharing kind words and profound insights with such eloquence, Maria. ❤
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Thanks for this post my dear friend, every day we wake up to see more hate, more death and more pain. And to top it all, more division.
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Thank you for your thoughtful comments, Saadia. This time of heartbreaking ugly violence and divisiveness is distressing. It would be so easy to react in anger toward those in power, but the path of anger only feeds more violence. Instead, I want you to know that I am so deeply sorry for the centuries of suffering this colonial government has caused around the world. I send you my blessings, dear friend, and my promise that I will continue doing what I can to build peace and understanding.
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a most necessary solution, dear Carol!
lets have food, music, dance
and time to smile together 🙂
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Lovely ideas, David! Thank you for your kind words and poetic insights. ❤
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“Crossing divides / into discomfort and uncertainty / Suddenly your attention is heightened / Searching intently, listening deeply for clues / about how to act, what to say”
~ Carol, that has been my experience as an immigrant and is probably true for a majority of immigrants. My greatest joy is being accepted as a fellow human being. Small children are great at this ❤
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Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and feelings, Rosaliene. I do hope we will be able to learn from the example of children how to be curious rather than fearful, open rather than guarded, kind rather than cruel.
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All these deep and sincere comments about bridging divides keep bringing up an idea I’ve had for some time. Perhaps it’s really dumb; perhaps it’s already taking place but… considering the depth of knowledge native people have of the land, and living in harmony with it – a fact that the conquerors did their best to wipe out – could certain native communities have, like, “camps” where “white folks” could go to, paying a fee, to stay for a while and learn from native people on how to live in harmony with nature? It could be based on the Ashram concept of India… or??? Has this ever been officially attempted, or are there such communities in existence now?
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Your questions are honest and important, Sha’Tara, but I need to take time to reflect before responding.
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There are so many ways I could respond to this question, Sha’Tara. In my experience, there are no easy ways to enlightenment. We each need to take responsibility to find the way. There are many who claim to have the answers for others. Some amusing and others who carry dark power. I’ve learned most from those who have suffered and live simply, quietly, on the margins.
Given your recent post, I was reminded that the New Testament in the Christian Bible provides sage advice:
It’s similar to Ojibwe advice:
I will add something else I believe to be true. Wisdom is a gift. It can’t be sold or bought. Receiving it requires accepting responsibility for living it and sharing it with others who will also honor the responsibility it conveys.
Thank you for asking such important, profound questions. I’m not sure my answers do them justice.
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Beautiful poem ! I wish more and more people cross these divides and experience the joy of shared happiness and peace!
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Thank you so much for your kind words, Khansana, and for sharing your important insights about the wisdom of crossing divides. ❤
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Beautiful words for finding peace, Carol. Thank you.
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Thank you so much for your lovely comments, Diana. ❤
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Lovely poem and beautiful sentiment and I love how the layout echoes the division you write about. How did you manage to keep the layout such on WP?
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Thank you so much for your kind words and thoughtful comments, Annika. Layouts are a challenge on WP, aren’t they? WP automatically condenses the space between lines, making formatting difficult. If you double space lines, it’s possible to justify them separately, left, middle, or right.
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Carol, thank you so much for that hint – very handy to know as I’ve had so much frustration with formatting.
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WP formatting is frustrating for me, too. There is another way to format poems with html commands that a gifted blogger shared with me, but I couldn’t get them to work. So I chose a simpler solution that does the job given my lack of technological skills. 🙂
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😀
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Thank you. 🙂
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