I am saddened that through all our efforts, we were not able to stop the execution of Troy Davis. I believe he was wrongly convicted due in part to the pervasive racism that still plagues this country. I also believe that the death penalty is wrong.
I want to say that all unequivocally so that the following will not seem flip or insensitive.
We spend huge amounts of our time, energy and money fearing death. And yet we don't know anything about death. We don't know whether what awaits us is a white light, the fires of hell, another life in another body, time with God, or nothing at all. And yet, or perhaps because of that, we fear it. We fear the unknown.
We could be spending that energy loving what is known: the present moment! For most people reading this, we have everything we need in the present moment. We just need to breathe and dive into life. As for the unknown, I'm learning to love the unknown as an adventure. If everything is known, that means I controlled it. Which means I imagined it and brought it into being with my little human brain. But if I allow the chaos of the universe to arrange into a pattern for my life, then I have all the wisdom of the whole universe getting together to create an amazing journey for me.
When my 25 year-old sister first died, I was devastated. I felt singled out; punished, even, since my father had already died tragically when I was 15. The thing that got me through it was looking to Hannah's life for wisdom. She lived with energy, enthusiasm, passion for adventure and connection. She travelled all over the world- for fun, for learning and to help strangers through humanitarian projects. She embarked on ambitious projects not knowing the end result but knowing the power of her values, convictions and personal strengths. She picked herself up after a painful breakup and embraced being single for the fun it can offer. Her model of how to live, loving life and not fearing death, inspires me still.
Instead of fearing death, let's love life.
What can we learn from Troy Davis even though his soul is no longer in his body? His wisdom can still speak to us if we allow it.
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