A ray of Hope...

This morning I was going through my regular routine... roll out of bed, throw on clothes so that the neighbors are not shocked by the "lesbian in her boxers", take my darling pups outside to attend to their morning routine, make first cup of coffee, and sit down to enjoy a little slice of peace and quiet before the rest of the house emerges.

As I started to scan through my reading list of blogs, I came across this post on the UUA (Unitarian Universalist Association) blog for youth and young adult ministries Blue Boat titled For Dealing With the Again and Again and Again. I started reading, and was immediately reminded of the senseless events of the last few weeks that have taken so many innocent lives, but as I continued, I was impressed by the resources suggested by the author Annie Gonzalez Milliken, ordained Unitarian Universalist minister currently serving as the Young Adult and Campus Ministry Associate for the UUA.

In true UU fashion, Annie was able to suggest several resource links to meet readers "where they are at" emotionally with these tragic events of violence, and as always, finished with the message of moving forward in love! I found myself hopeful for the future knowing that people like Annie are doing the important work of educating our youth about the importance of social justice and, perhaps more importantly, the importance of spreading the message of compassion and love. Bravo Annie!

I was particularly struck by the link to an entry on the UUA website titled Your Life Matters by Kenny Wiley (read more of his articles here). With all of the recent controversy over the Black Lives Matter movement and whether it is, in fact, an example of reverse racism and comparable, by some, with the KKK, I thought this article deserved a closer look.

What I found, was truly uplifting, and should not have been surprising to me. What I found was the ever present messages of the UU faith... Acceptance, Compassion, and LOVE! Not only did the article confirm for me that Black Lives Matter is a necessary, peaceful movement to drive home the message that people of color, particularly African Americans, are routinely treated as if their lives are not worthy of the same compassion, dignity and justice as their white brothers and sisters. The article also served as a reminder to me of what brought me to the UU faith in the first place.

The first paragraph of Kenny Wiley's article says it all...

Most of us Unitarian Universalists are here because we felt welcome here — at last. Some of us were too agnostic somewhere else. Some of us weren’t vindictive enough somewhere else. We were too working-class somewhere else. We were too lesbian somewhere else. We were too nerdy somewhere else, too introverted somewhere else, too gay-married somewhere else. 

Many of us are here because this faith and the people in it affirmed: you may not be perfect, but your life matters just the same.

For more information on the Unitarian Universalist faith visit the UUA website at http://www.uua.org/