The following article is an editorial. This article is not meant to be fact but my own personal thoughts.
Today we are all in pain. God bless your American Heart, we are in mourning, in my opinion, and the anger and fear of what might happen next is very understandable. In the last 5 months, we Americans, and the rest of the world have been through something most of us have only read about in books.
On top of all this, politically, our country has been beat about the head and heart for so long…no matter what you believe politically, it is a general consensus, from my viewpoint, that we have become set on opposing lines and the ones who scream the loudest are painting a very stressful picture.
As we have come through a quarantine situation that some of us understand and others don’t, for lots of reasons, and we want life to go back to normal so badly that we are either rebelling or quaking in our boots. Even our favorite TV shows are not broadcasting sometimes and the humanity I originally appreciated when talk show hosts began using Zoom to broadcast their shows, has begun to help me realize I don’t want to know as much about Kelly Ripa or Stephan Colbert as I do now that they are stuck at home.
Then it happened. The videos of hateful, ignorant, or even worse, blatantly prejudice, white people started emerging and finally George Floyd died before our very eyes and the tears and blood that we have tried to not see began to flow, or rather explode all over the American people. Many black people have died at the hands of people in authority who should probably have been in a different job. The systemic racism that we live with did not originate with the police but in the hearts and minds of those who taught us to see color and rate the value of a person by their skin tone. I know that people of every color have been enslaved. I hear you ancestors of share croppers, Irish and especially Native Americans. I feel you LGBTQ+ people, fat people, disabled people and women of every race and nationality…I know there are more people groups but honestly, if I named everyone this article would just become a huge list. Humans judge each other. It is a flaw in our DNA that I think God gave us so we would be forced to be humble, if not humiliated by each other.
In this time we cannot forget that our humanity is being tested here and we need to stop fighting with each other. COVID-19 is killing people or at least changing the lives of everyone it touches and it doesn’t care what color you are, how much money you have or anything that we might relate to or hide behind. At the same time people who have lived their lives in fear, something that most white people can say they don’t see because our skin color has made us exempt for many judgements, are letting nothing hold them back from saying, “Enough!”
So now we are fighting over masks and regurgitating opinions from different herds. Come on people, there is nothing new under the sun. We are all sheep with membership to different denominations so this name calling is futile. We fight over whether people should be protesting but not picnicking and planning Independence Day festivities, like everyone is guilty when in reality we are all bystanders. With the overflow of hatred on all sides, honestly, I am wondering what we would celebrate in the first place.
Last week our video camera was giving me hell as I tried to hold the camera for Wellness Works NW’s videos. I realized I needed to clean out the camera. I didn’t want to because most of our possessions are in storage and I wasn’t sure what I would do with the footage and pictures on the drive but it come to a point I had to rip the bandage off. I dumped the files on my laptop so I could slowly weed through it and reformat the camera. When I came back I found video and pictures Karen had taken as far back as 2014, when we were married. You know what I found? Great moments! Many that may never happen again because there are reasons some people are not part of our life.
I am not black or native, but I understand being ignored, being treated unfairly, being treated less than, not because of the color of my skin, or my sexuality or any one reason, but because people make decisions. Sometimes people make decisions, with no malice intended, that hurt other people. When we realize we can make a choice to change, we do. That is what I did. I cut people, I love with all my heart, out of my life because I don’t like the way they treat me and now I live with a gaping hole in my heart that may never heal.
It is important to listen to each other. For years I told people who loved me and abused me what I needed and they could not hear me or see a way to change. The system was laid. The rules were in place and they didn’t want to change but I did. And I did. It doesn’t compare to the racism that is prevalent in our society, but being born into a white family, I can only compare the pain and fear of living in a system you can’t change to what I know.
As a country this is where we are at. Am I hurt and angry about looting and vandalism? Yes. Am I hurt that people are removing memorials of our history? Yes and no. Am I hurt that people I could have given birth to, think you can erase our history and rewrite it in a more politically correct manner, instead of fighting for the stories that weren’t told to be shared so we can grow together and decide what to do next together? Yes…but I also understand if those young people stop screaming the system that has misled so many may never understand how important it is that we change for the betterment of all people, whether they are Native, Black, LGBTQ+, or any other box we fit in…or in the case of our round bottomed people, can’t fit into at all because it doesn’t come in their size.
I know many of you have come to believe that COVID-19 is fake. That it is just a flu and we are making a mountain out of a molehill but come on: European countries are talking about not letting Americans into their countries and New York wants Washingtonians to go in quarantine or face fines if we go there. Over 108,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States as of the update on June 25, 2020 on the CDC’s website. Nearly 500,000 people have died all over the world according to WorldOMeter.Info.
If this is a conspiracy, bravo! The entire world has pulled the wool over our little sheep eyes!
I read a comment by a mother on Facebook who went into a grocery store. She was holding her 5 month old baby. It was the first time she had worn a mask. She said she couldn’t breathe. Her heart was racing. The room was spinning and she thought she might drop her baby which added to her terror. She said she was asphyxiating. She may have been having a real medical situation. She also might have, very understandably, been having an anxiety attack. Who wouldn’t if all they have been hearing is scary and negative and if she didn’t have people who are scared and sad or angry or any other emotions we feel when we are stressed out and mourning the loss of some of our foundational beliefs or expectations telling her that she is not safe; that her child is not safe?
I can understand that since the facts regarding COVID-19 change daily and we don’t know what has been torn down by rioters or looters, taking advantage of the situation, since we went to sleep the night before, might make us more fearful and anxious. We must listen to each other. We must listen to the people who are adamant that they need change at any cost before we cut out a piece of our American heart that may never heal.
We must validate people who are hurting and be at peace with the idea that we don’t have to agree on everything but we are all part of this stunning yet scary thing called the human race. We must stop tearing each other down like the monuments that some people can’t bear to see for even one more minute.
I want you to be healthy. Our Wellness Works NW Team wants you to be healthy. So much so that we have not changed our procedures. We are still training people online. We are still wearing masks. We are still carrying hand sanitizer when we don’t have access to soap and water. We are still social distancing. We are not going to meet you at another gym just because Forever Fit Gym is waiting until we are fully into Phase 3 of re-entry for businesses. We don’t know if we can protect you and we want you to be safe. But you have to decide what you think is right for you. That said, you don’t get to decide for others what is healthy for them. If you don’t want to wear a mask, if you refuse to wear a mask, don’t be angry when other’s have made a different decision than you. They have made the decision they want to make, the decision, they have the right to make. If you want to wear a mask, you must be kind to people who will not wear them. Unless it is your job to police people, leave that to the professionals.
I hope that this article has answered some of the things bumping around in your mind. I have been so bombarded with ideas while I watch the news and social media sites that I had to have an outlet. If you would like us to pray for you or if you want to make an appointment to talk about a Wellness Plan please Contact Us.
Note: In response to this article I have had several comments from people who don’t leave their name or give Karen’s email address as their own. Collectively we chose to not post these comments because we can’t have a dialogue with these people. One request I can accommodate it to hear a black person’s opinion. If you want to hear Karen’s words out of her own mouth please read or watch The Great Experiment.
I hope this article helps Fuel Your Wellness. Please leave your comments below.
Summer D Clemenson co-owns Clemenson Enterprises and Wellness Works NW with her wife, Karen G Clemenson. Their personal motto is Creativity, Honesty & Positivity are a must! This mantra helps them stay community and wellness minded in all they do. Summer is an Independent Wellness Advocate at dōTERRA. Summer also writes poetry and inspirational blogs @ ClemensonEnterprises.com. Her crochet art can be viewed and purchased @ KnottyWares.com & she loves special orders!
