Black Lives Matter

As I type this, I hear helicopters, sirens, and random explosive blasts. Writing an update about my acupuncture practice right now seems disingenuous, considering what's going on right now.

Though I don't have answers and don't know what to do, I feel responsible to show up somehow. Right now it seems appropriate to just say a couple words about where I stand, despite how wobbly that standing feels. If I don't take up that responsibility, my privilege of being a white cis male is being wasted, when it can be used to benefit those without such privilege. 

I am heartbroken by the recent murders of our black family. 

In Chinese medicine, we often talk about the root of a disease and a branch. The branch is a manifestation of the root. Until you get to the root, branches will keep popping up.

Using this lens to look through, these murders are branches, the root is white supremacy. The subsequent looting and destruction are branches....the root, again, is white supremacy. There is no doubt that violence is inherent in white supremacy. 

I vow to do what I can to dismantle white supremacy. I don't know how that will look, what I will do, what I am capable of. I ask for your support as I learn, and I offer my support to you as well.

I offer my encouragement to other white folks (especially those of us in positions of power, teachers, leaders, business owners, et al) to not be aloof right now. This is too important to sit out. I hope we can use this pivotal time to cultivate the capacity to listen deeply, I hope we can be open to feedback, to engage in conversations that are rooted in the truth of our interconnectedness. 

I will mess up and fail. We all will along the way. This is part of how we heal together. If we don't make space for failures, healing can't take place. 

I am committed to healing and nonviolence, and I hope we can join together in that, while we allow our hearts to collectively break, and heal. Please take good care of yourselves and of each other, 
EJ
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