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What will you speak up for?

2/18/2018

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I recently listened to Oprah’s podcast: SuperSoul Conversations called Braving New Worlds with Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling. The 44-minute podcast is filled with moments I wanted to stop and turn to a friend and say, “What do you think about that?”

One question that stuck with me was “What will you speak up for?” They were addressing the #MeToo movement and Reese Witherspoon’s contribution to the Times Up campaign to help pay legal bills for women who have been abused and can afford to pay.

It made me ask myself, “What would I speak up for?” There are many issues that are important to me. And in the past 13 months, I have found myself speaking up and out more often. The underlying force that keeps coming back to me as I think about what is important is kindness. This is how I define kindness.
Compassion + Action = Kindness

Compassion is necessary to notice what the other person needs not what I want to give.
Action is necessary so it is not just “feeling bad” for another person.
Kindness is the combination of both of those things working together.

Now I know there will never be a Kindness March. It is not something about which we get all worked up. But it is absolutely necessary in relationships at work, in our neighborhood, with strangers, and in our friendships and family – and in our civic conversations!

For kindness to happen, someone must be truly seen and someone else must be doing the seeing.
For kindness to happen, one must slow down to discern the action that is desired in that moment.
For kindness to happen, one must take a risk and act.

See? The act of kindness is not as simple and tame as some may think. It is an act which requires courage.

So…kindness is what I speak up for when I see it or when I see the need for it. And yeah, when other important issues need to be raised I will be there – with compassion and action.
Take a listen to the entire podcast and then let me know what you would speak up for?
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What defines identity?

2/12/2018

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Two thoughts came to mind as I listened to It’s Not Just about the Blood on the Code Switch podcast.
Both have to do with identity:
1.       The complicated reality of Native peoples reclaiming their identity that our government has tried to systematically erase for economic reasons throughout our nation’s history.
2.       The dominant cultural/racial identity of whiteness in our country has become the generic norm.

This podcast is one of my favorites. Code Switch focuses on stories about race and identity. The journalists are all people of color. I always learn something every time I listen.

This episode is about how some Native American tribes use “blood quantum” rules to decide who can be a recognized citizen of a specific tribe. In other words, how much “Indian Blood” someone has and so can lay claim to being a part of one of the more that 500 tribes.

This is a complicated rule that was first used by the United States government. Our government noticed that as less and less “Indian blood” was present, Natives could be treated as a racial group instead of members of a sovereign nation. Get the difference? Economics. Power. Land rights. Those are the things that were (and are) at stake.

For the people of these tribes another important issue is answering the very personal questions of “Who am I?” and “Where do I belong?” The podcast shares a few different stories of people wrestling with those questions.

As I listened it brought back an experience in my church from just a few weeks ago. At a congregational meeting each person was given a survey with the typical church survey questions. (What gifts do you have and how can they be shared in this church community?) There was one more surprising question: What is your race?

I’m sure this has to do with the national church body wanting to know who is sitting in our pews. The answers were very telling. Most everyone there is of northern European descent. Some people filled in the names of countries of their descendants from a few generations back like Sweden, Germany, and England. Some people wrote “white” as their race. Many more people left it blank.

It makes me wonder how white people also wrestle with the questions of “Who am I?” and “Where do I belong?” Are we connected to our ancestors’ home countries? Do we pass down traditions and stories that help form our family identity?
OR…
Do we not wrestle with those questions at all because whiteness is the norm? Do we assume that whiteness is the standard against which all other races are compared? Do we leave the answer blank because the WASP identity is so prevalent, we automatically belong?

Listen to the 22-minute podcast and let me know what hits you.
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    Pam Voves

    Podcast Ponderings are mini reflections on deep subjects.

    ​I usually listen while I walk, so many times this is all I can remember to get on paper.

    Let me know what you are listening to.
    ​pvoves@comcast.net

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