How I Came to Love Donald Trump (and How You Can Too)
Yes, it is the month of love and in the name of Love, I want to talk to you about a very difficult subject, namely, Donald Trump.
Before you judge what I have to say, I want you to take a deep breath, relax your body and open your mind as far as is possible! I know what a trigger his name has become for so many people (including all the little gorgeous brown children I work with each quarter)…..so ssssssshh, come inside and listen.
I need to go back a bit to last summer. I was in hell! I could not stand what I was seeing happening before my eyes: antisemitism in our streets, not my grandparents’ streets nor my great grandfather’s parents streets, but my streets…our streets of America. And as a Jew, I am here to tell you, I cried often.
I wondered if I should make a plan for Canada, and I’m not kidding. I witnessed as you did too, rampant racism in our streets and in some of our police department men and women. Our Whitehouse not only tolerated it but literally sanctioned all of it!
I couldn’t stop watching the news, a habit I had long ago broken. Every day, I was addicted to the news on my computer, on my tv, in the papers. I could not get enough of it. I stopped 5- 10 times a day to witness the news. My heart was broken. My spirit was exhausted! And, I couldn’t sleep. I worried for black, brown, Mexican and Jewish children. I worried about our country. I worried non-stop. No matter what I told myself, I couldn’t seem to stop.
Accidents Serve a Purpose
On July 15th, in a totally ridiculous accident, while working out, I broke my left wrist. After letting out two good sized YELPS, I looked down and saw a mangled arm that no longer resembled the arm I’ve known as mine. In my shock, I tried to talk myself out of what I knew was true: I had broken my wrist. Within an hour, the xrays confirmed what I already knew: I had broken my left radius. UGH!
And if you knew me, you’d know that being constrained physically is not a good idea for me. And yet, there I was with a broken wrist and even worse a sprained right foot (that actually caused so much pain that made me fall onto my wrists on cement: my poor wrist didn’t stand a chance!).
By Monday, when the specialists returned to work, it became clear that for a person like me, who is so physically active, surgery was the way to go…. Gggggggrrrrrrr! Surgery was going to mean, no exercise and lots of rest, something I do not like to do, ever!
With all my agitation, I had to sit still through the most beautiful season of all: summer in Seattle. And sit I did in hell! The deeper I went, the worse I felt and the deeper questions I began to ask myself. My beautiful, compassionate guides sat with me and rooted me on.
After many months this is finally what I came to. In most religions and spiritual practices I have studied, we are commanded to Love. Love thy neighbor as thy self, love thine enemy and love yourself.
Send Trump Love, Not Hate
I realized that if I were to get out of the hell I was currently sitting in it was going to have to come from Love. If we are to heal our nation it must be from Love, not Hate. We have had enough Hate.
I took it upon myself to practice sending Love to Donald Trump every day. Do I condone his behavior? Absolutely not! Do I share his beliefs and values? Absolutely not! Do I like the man? Absolutely not!
I can have compassion for the pain he must live with (people don’t hurt others unless they are in pain).
I can have compassion for the businessman whose ego runs him out of control.
I can have deep empathy and compassion for the pain he has caused many people and that will ultimately hurt him, even if he never can acknowledge it.
For this and so much more, I can open my heart and have compassion for what he knows not, and send him love. Only Love will heal our current situation, our country, and the world. We are here to learn to love.
In this way, Donald Trump, after my own father, is one of my greatest challenges and teachers. He represents most everything I have fought against and for my entire life. He also represents the shadow of this country. He represents the darkness in all of us.
The only thing that heals is acknowledgment and love.
We can not heal what we can’t acknowledge. We certainly can’t heal anything we Hate! Love is a healing balm that must be applied to anything unto itself. Hate will only hurt your body and being! I am living proof of that! If you want further scientific proof of how hate hurts your body, please go check out the work of Dr. Masaru Emoto.
For your own health, for the health of this country and the world, I encourage you to find the Love in your heart for anything you judge, despise and hate. Only Love will take us from where we are to where so many of us long for: a world filled with equality and justice for all and, above all, a world based on Love. Together, in Love, we can create a new vision for a truly free America for all.