The Boiling Pot of America
What intolerance can teach us about what needs healing
We’ve filled our pot with lukewarm water, placed it on the stove with the temperature on high, and wait patiently for it to warm up. As the water comes to a boil, we notice tiny bubbles beginning to percolate. These pockets of air had been in the water all along — it just took a bit of heat to show up.
This is what is happening in our country right now.
White supremacy, the struggle to wear a face mask, and even cancel culture are just a few of the things that the heat of the election, this presidency, and coronavirus have revealed. These intentions have been inside of many Americans this entire time, whether we’d like to believe it or not.
If we are to heal this country (and frankly, the greater world), we have to go into the root of the issue. Underneath the surface of these erratic actions lie deep-seated unresolved fear, anxiety, and anger that we must address if we are to bring about any positive change.
- Racism: fear of being diminished and further silenced, especially impacting middle America. Many of these communities were left behind as metropolitan coastal cities boomed with technology growth. Racism doesn’t discriminate and we have ethnic groups all fighting one another in hopes that bringing another group down will uplift the other.
- Inability to wear a face mask: anxiety of having to navigate a broken healthcare system. Public health has never been on the forefront or a mandate for many Americans who’ve had to navigate the privatized system alone for so long.
- Cancel culture: extreme anger towards built-up injustice seeking others to also feel the same pains.
What feeds these actions and feelings is something even deeper — the feeling of not having control. When we feel like we don’t have a grasp of the future, we spiral into thoughts of powerlessness, hopelessness, and fear. We live life as a reactor vs. actor.
If we can’t empower ourselves to find abundance and power in our every day, how can we expect others to do so? Why do we expect others to heal so that we can finally find peace, happiness, and joy in our own lives?
No matter how many friends we delete off Facebook or eject ourselves from contentious spaces, we cannot turn a blind eye to the human suffering that is happening all around us. Just because we don’t see it, doesn’t mean the pains don’t exist.
Everyone deserves liberation from their pains. Even those we struggle to find space for. And it starts with ourselves. There is abundance around all of us to find healing.
How might we find abundance and power in our lives so that we can show up for our greater community?
I host a podcast called Yellow Glitter, mindfulness through the eyes and soul of a gay Asian. You can find it on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Overcast, and TuneIn.
Along with a bit of weekly mindfulness, I send out my favorite things I discover each week on my email newsletter at Mindful Moments.
Thanks for reading! Until next time.
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