With everything thats been going on lately, my friends and I decided to do something about it. Have you ever felt hopeless or gotten so angry that it debilitates you? Well thats how I felt last week. So many questions ran through my mind. How could people be so heartless? Whats happening to the world? Is this real life? Why don't we do something? What can I do to stop this madness? and the list goes on. I was so upset after seeing the videos of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile and hearing about the police getting shot in Dallas. My heart felt like it was being ripped out of my body I was in so much pain and sadness. I reached out to my friends and vented to them, cried with them, and sat in anger with them. We kept repeating to each other "What can we do!" "We have to do something!" SO WE DID! We decided to remind the world that LOVE is the way! When you don't know what to do, LOVE! When you are confused, LOVE! When life shows you hate, LOVE!
This past Sunday we did just that! We organized a gathering #RoseDrop4Peace in Down Town Los Angeles. We met at Grand Park, everybody dressed in Red & White; Red for Passion & White for Peace. The day started with an open discussion about the recent events. We then did an activity where people were asked to find a partner who they felt they had the least amount of things in common with and to stand facing them look them in the eye and tell them what is seen underneath their outer appearance. We then had each partnership share with the group what landed for them. Peoples walls came down and we connected on a deep, intimate, and vulnerable level. After that we had a few people share poems about whats been happening to the Black Lives in our communities. We then started group participation songs including "Man in the Mirror" "Change is gonna come" "Lean on Me" as we sang we marched with our red roses to City Hall & The Los Angeles Police Department. At the Police Headquarters we lined up and as we placed down a rose we called out the names of the people we lost symbolizing the blood shed, love, and our passion for change. We then formed a circle around the roses and said a closing prayer. The most impactful moment for me was when some of the police officers joined us in prayer, afterward we hugged the officers reminding us that we are all human. This was just one way for us to channel our passion in a peaceful way to effectively take action and promote change.
“Love is the force that transforms and improves the Soul of the World. When I first reached through to it, I thought the Soul of the World was perfect. But later I could see that it was like other aspects of creation, and had its own passions and wars. It is we who nourish the Soul of the World, and the world we live in will be either better or worse, depending on whether we become better or worse. And that's where the power of love comes in. Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are.” ― Paulo Coelho #LivingTheAlchemist