I started thinking about Posting on the subject of the shooting a week ago but my emotions were too intense, the news media was still trying to get the story straight, and I didn’t want to be part of a swarm of flies in pursuit of the scent of death. So I waited and gave myself time to reflect. Saturday January 8, 2011 was a day like September 11, 2001. It was the kind of day that marks the kind of events that create the opportunity for significant social change. It was the kind of day that stops you in your tracks, makes you take a few steps back, and moves you to ask yourself if you (we) are going in the right direction and making the right choices. It was the kind of day that encapsulates all of the reasons why we need to create for our children a world that is aligned with the Prime Directive.
In the Handbook On Being Human, the Mysterious Dr. M. talks about the belief of the Enia that we (humans) are sentient energy forms (spiritual beings) who choose to come into the world in physical form. I thought about the idea that we know the general course of our lives before we come into the world and that we agree to come even in the face of what (from this vantage point) would be considered a horrific experience or a tragic ending. I thought about all of the people and victims who were present that day and wondered, if they knew that the events of that day were going to occur how many of them would have gone anyway? And, if the victims knew, before they came into the world, that this horrific experience or tragic ending was On Path for them, why would they have chosen to come anyway? I thought about Representative Gabrielle Giffords, the tragedy of her being shot in the head (negative energy) and the miracle of her survival and miraculous recovery (positive energy). Christina Taylor Green’s death was a wound to my heart but then I remembered that she chose to come and again, I asked myself why? Why would Christina, and Gabrielle, Federal Judge John Roll, and the other victims of the shooting have chosen to come into the world with this tragedy On their Path? Could it be because as spiritual beings they believed that their sacrifices would make a difference in our lives?
We humans are willing to make great sacrifices for each other. We will even make the ultimate sacrifice if we believe that the sacrifice of our life will make a difference in the lives of others. We are good like that! There was an uncanny rhythm to the flow of positive and negative energy as my emotions responded to the news clips of victims and villains, heroes and heroines. Almost immediately came the public calls for more civility in our public discourse and I thought, yes, let there sacrifice count for something, let it make a difference, change course. That must be why they came! But, oh how in the face of hardship we (humans) make such great promises and then forget when the crisis has passed. I did not resist the tears when President Obama said, "I want to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as Christina imagined it. . . . All of us - we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations." For me, that says it all. If we determine to create a better world for our children we will in the process be creating a better world for ourselves.
We failed at changing course and choosing the right direction after the events of September 11, 2001. We knew it was a critical moment. We knew it was a time for reflection, renewal, and realignment. But we didn’t reflect deeply enough, we failed to renew our commitment to our highest ideals and instead renewed our commitment to our old habits of behavior, and we failed to realign ourselves with the most sustainable system of values. We were offered another opportunity to reflect, renew, and realign during the U.S. and global economic collapse of 2008 and we failed to get the message that Dr. M. outlines in his extensive history of the choices of the Ti-Enia. Now, Jared Lee Loughner (the reported shooter), Representative Gabrielle Giffords, little Christina Taylor Green, the other victims, heroes and heroines have given us another chance. Once again we are called upon to take a couple of steps back, reflect, and change course to avoid the predictions that Dr. M. and the Enia discuss in the Handbook.
In the death of Christina Taylor Lee there is motivation to make a change. In the survival and progressive recovery of Representative Gabrielle Giffords there is inspiration to accomplish the change. The spiritual, community, and political leaders of Tucson, the families, friends, and coworkers of the victims, the heroes and heroines of this nightmarish event could use this moment to make Tucson Arizona the first City in America to make the Prime Directive a part of their operating policy and social protocols. More than six lives were lost to the citizens of Tucson (and to us) on Saturday, January 8, 2011. They (and we) lost that all-important sense of Peaceful Space that Dr. M. talks about throughout the Handbook. We are all losing it and much more with each new overwhelming event, whether it is a natural disaster bringing record-breaking destruction in its path or an unnatural disaster shredding the fabric of our humanity and sense of social order. Aligning their city and our country with the Prime Directive is a choice that would make the sacrifice of our brothers and sisters in Tucson worth their suffering and precious lives. If you have relatives, friends, or contacts in Tucson you can play your part by sending them a link to this Post and letting them know that as a supporter of the Peaceful Space Project and reader of this Blog you understand that we are all in this together, that we are Interrelated, Interconnected, and Interdependent. We are Abi ati Ara! (Extended Family)! Together we are Inurere! (Humanity).
Living in alignment with the Prime Directive
is a choice to which everyone should be invited!
You have been invited!
You have been invited!
Create Peaceful Space!
Trust Your Process!
Peace, Love, and Health!
2 comments:
Thank you for the inspiring and expressive posting on “one of those profound events that filled the mediums of communication”! Perhaps, as you mention, this occurrence can promote significant social changes by increasing the percentile of Positive energy amongst our ‘Abi ati Ara’ to reflect, renew, and realign with the Prime Directive for all of Inurere. As a community crisis counselor, I think one of steps that national and state leaders can Reflect on, in alignment with the Prime Directive, is their prioritization and Renewal of public goals of preventing mental, emotional, and behavioral (MEB) disorders in individuals of all ages.
Of interest, Clarke Romans (as cited by the Huffington Post, 2011), executive director for southern Arizona's branch of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, writes that nearly 50 percent of mental health services recipients in Representative Giffords' county were dropped in 2010! As evident, Romans reports that in January of 2010, 3,000 Pima County, Arizona residents were taken off the public mental health system's enrollment and another 3,800 county residents lost their mental health coverage. The reasons for these Ti-Enia type of Choices are that “they were not actively displaying symptoms of a serious mental illness” or “they did not fall below the federal poverty level”. Although these residents are still allowed to get generic medications, they have lost their essential services (i.e., case manager, mental health practitioner, access to group therapy, TRANSPORTATION, and housing subsidies. Unfortunately, without these services,individuals with mental health illnesses are at risk of being not only a danger to themselves, but a danger to society. Roman states: “These people are now turned away from services they may have had for years, and unfortunately … law-enforcement encounters have all gone up.”
As a crisis worker, I can testify to numerous occasions that clients have shared with me that a lack of mental health services has increased their risk of being potentially harmful to society. As illustrative, I recently went out on a crisis call with my co-partner (also a crisis specialist) on an individual with bipolar, schizoaffective, and substance abuse disorders. During the intervention, the client states that due to being denied access to transportation to and from his mental health case site, along with a lack of family support and a fear of public transportation, he has not been able to make his appointments at his mental health case site, hence his case has been closed. The client states that due to this occurrence, he no longer is able to combat the continual audio and visual hallucinations (via medication) that encourage him to “gut his girlfriend” who live with him so she will be out of his way.
Hopefully, in the wake of Tucson’s horrific event, national and state politicians (as well as significant entities) will make great strides of being resourceful in their pursuit of funding mental health care (Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2009). I also look forward to sending a copy of this timely Blog to others, as an Abi ati Ara, in support of the cause of the Peaceful Space Project, namely to Live in alignment with the Prime Directive!
Thank you again for posting this Blog Umar.
References:
Huntington Post. (2011). Nearly 50 percent of mental health services recipients in Giffords' county were dropped in 2010. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/11/pima-county-mental-health-services_n_807522.html
Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. (2009). Preventing mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders among young people: progress and possibilities. Retrieved from http://www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2009/Preventing-Mental-Emotional-and-Behavioral-Disorders-Among-Young-People/Preventing%20Mental%20Emotional%20and%20Behavioral%20Disorders%202009%20%20Report%20Brief%20for%20Researchers.pdf
Thank you for your comment. Some of the mental health issues that manifest in us are genetic and hereditary in origin. Some are epigenetic, resulting from external rather than genetic influences. The Enia say that as the Ti-Enia align themselves with the Prime Directive they will shift their Energy Signatures to that of Peaceful Space and the social interaction contribution to the epigenetic source of mental health issues will be mitigated and eventually eliminated. Healthier, happier, better informed parents and communities will Create Peaceful Space for their children to grow and thrive. Then the other epigenetic factors like physical environment and quality of food and water will come under the influence of the Prime Directive as these children mature into the decision makers, scientist, engineers, teachers, and leaders of the future. (In fact, the Enia say that many of the children are already wiser than their parents but the parents and cultures hold them back.) This shift will in turn reduce the occurrence of both genetically and epigenetically triggered mental health issues. Inurere will become balanced and Ile Inurere will become wholesome again. The Prime Directive is a catalyst for the occurrence of these shifts.
Thanks again!
Peace!
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