Sendak On Death (And Life) (by Efwffw Fewfwf)

http://www.youtube.com/embed/U68bZbMM7q8?feature=oembed

Sendak On Death (And Life) (by efwffw fewfwf)

Some good words on truth, life, and non-life.

We should all care, all the time.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." -MLK

I just found myself pondering: You do a lot of public support for racial/ethnic diversity in media, which I very much support! Do you ever get questioned as to why, as a white person, this means so much to you? Because I've done a lot of LGBT-supporting stuff in the last five years or so, and every once in a while get asked/told that because I care about it so much, I must be SECRETLY GAY. I need to know your answer because I'm sure people don't call you SECRETLY ASIAN or something.

My white Israeli boss, when we got into a discussion about Trayvon Martin a while back, asked “What happened to you?” when I was explaining racism, as if some tragic event must be behind a white person caring about racism.

My parents are often baffled by it too. They have asked, “Who told you this?” and “Why does it matter?” and “What made you feel this way?”. It’s especially weird to them because when I talk about sexism and stuff they like to accuse me (subtly) of playing the victim, but they hate when I do the opposite and say “Hey, we’re kind of wealthy and have benefited from whiteness.” Like, they don’t think that’s true and also don’t see the benefit of claiming it and they ask me why a lot. (One conversation in Disney World a couple years back about the white princesses being so overtly first tier while the POC princesses were second tier comes to mind, where my mom said something like “I remember you loving having your blonde dolls! Why do you want less of them?” and “What would be wrong with it if the princesses just were all white, anyway?”) [you would seriously never know, until you bring these things up very directly, that my mom feels this way]

White people, especially in public forums or online where people are mostly strangers, have also asked me, “What, are you dating a black guy? Why do you care?”

And I have been, at least once, asked if I was mixed only after talking about racism (so I guess that’s the SECRETLY ASIAN thing).

In short, yes, I get questioned as to why, as a white person, it would mean so much to me.

I just don’t understand why it WOULDN’T. I mean, people are being mistreated. I’m benefiting from it. Of course it’s important to me that that stops.

The power of perspective.

Simpler Times

When people wish they could return to simpler times, what do they truly mean? Often, there is a desire to return to childhood and youth, or even to travel back to a different era of history, one without the fears and complications of our modern world. But what are they really seeking?

If we look at the times they wish to return to, the trend seems to be to relinquish a certain amount of control and power over their lives. No more managing your appointments and meetings and trying to find time for love all on your iPad, your Blackberry, your fifty different planners. And to be sure, having so much control over every waking minute of our lives is a scary thing. As I talked about before, there is definitely a comfort in relinquishing control.

But it is not the control that people really wish to relinquish, but the opposite: they wish to relinquish the feeling of powerlessness. Having such a technological world gives us immense power over our lives, but it also highlights the areas where we lack power. We are very much at the mercy of our bosses, our government, even our neighbors. But this would not change, even if we were to travel back to our youth, back to the romanticized past. The world will always be divided into areas where we have control, and areas where we will not, and this is okay. What is needed, then, is a change of perspective. We must give up trying to control that which is beyond us focus on the choices we can make right in front of us. We cannot change the minds of other people any more than we can change the weather around us. By accepting this, we can find much more happiness in our lives and compassion for the lives of others.

This is the need for discernment.

I often refer to these images from the HSBC ads a few years ago to talk about interpretation of images/symbols in artworks and how our experiences can alter how we read things.

edit: added more from @sevenhued-cerise

This, I believe, is a fairly bold and accurate expression of Dao.