Shawnee Love   •   June 10, 2020

It has been 3 weeks.

I have cycled through fury, sickening heartbreak, overwhelm, sadness, and horror, sometimes all at the same time. Not a recipe for being articulate let me assure you.

I thought if I waited and let myself process, I would know how to advise and provide guidance to employers to workers. But it hasn’t happened yet.

I still don’t know what to say. I’m still mad and upset and ashamed. It is 2020. It’s been a bloody terrible year and the world really doesn’t need to be split at the seams. Except it already was. And now we have to pick up the pieces.

In Japan, there is a practice called “Kintsukuroi”. It is a process whereby broken things are repaired with gold and the repaired item is recognized as more beautiful for having been broken.

It is my hope we can repair our world with gold. To be a more beautiful, welcoming, inclusive, caring place than we were before.

To do so, we need to start on ourselves.

We all have biases. Some we are aware of but many which are unconscious.

We are doomed to repeat that which we fail to realize we do.

I hope these few ideas may help bring a bit of gold into our shattered world and enable mending to occur:

• Seek out and listen to those with different opinions and experiences. Be curious.
• Stand up and speak out when you see unkindness and injustice.
• Ask for feedback on your blind spots and biases.  Make changes based on what you learn.

Remaining ignorant is an intentional act. We can all do better.

Let’s talk more about how. Please comment.