When nowhere feels safe-what to do? A poem

When the anxiety and fear

Builds up

When terrible things have happened

Whether watching the news

Or being unintentionally caught up

In the middle of people’s rage

And desire to destroy

And innocence has been killed.

When you are quite literally

Scared for your life and for your family’s

You have a choice to make

And it’s not an easy choice.

To not be against something

But stand for something

To stand for peace and love

In the face of your fear and rage.

It takes courage and a lot of deep breaths

To calm your fear, to calm your anger

To not jump to conclusions and opinions.

When nowhere feels safe

And people are forcing each other in identity and culture wars

Egging you on, what do you choose

A culture either based on your nationality or based on your religion or perhaps your gender or skin colour.

Find yourself in that moment to connect to

What you’ve always known in your heart

To be true, in the breath of your lungs

In the trees and flowers all around,

Take shelter in your own humanity,

Return to your body.

Return to your heart.

And from here you can restart.

Come back to what is real,

And leave what might tear us apart

Our identities

Are all temporary

Connect to what is deep

And effervescent

An awareness and an expanse

Beyond these confined debates

These things have happened

Throughout history

They will continue to happen

As long as humans

Want to separate themselves

Into different gangs around

Cultures and religions

And various diversities

The fights over territories.

I am not saying these things

Are not real or traumatic,

But in the face of this trauma

What do you do?

When nowhere feels safe

And you feel triggered.

Return to your heart

Breathe deep,

Remember what you stand for,

Remember your friends.

Remember there is a place

For everyone.

No matter what Hate might say

To you.

From this calm place

Is where good action can take place

In midst of fear and violence.

Bridges can still be built.

A crisis is an opportunity

For change but it depends on

Our choices.

Choices need a clarity of heart

And mind.

Remember your choice

And choose with a calm mind.

The outside world may not feel safe

But you have a choice to reach

To help create a sense of safety in yourself

From this place, you too can be a sheltering tree

For those that are lost and frightened.

And from this calming place

Peace can be restored again.