A couple of days ago, I saw a Facebook post that read: “Do you trust [insert the name of the current occupant of the oval office here]?
I was instantly reminded of the first time I saw the movie, Steel Magnolias, as I nearly choked to death, simultaneously laughing hysterically and sobbing.
Then I was reminded of my years of training in Ericksonian hypnotherapy. Two things stood out.
One was a video lecture by a woman whose name I sadly don’t remember, talking about trust. I learned a lot. The gist of it was that we could trust the people in our lives to be who they are.
Bill, the Legendary Husband, provided a perfect example. Bill and I live with very different notions of time which results in my frequently perceiving him as being “late”.
When I was traveling a lot for the Office of the General Assembly, PC(USA), Bill was often “late” in meeting my flights home.
I will confess that it irritated me a lot.
Then, on my way home from hypnosis training after the weekend I watched the video, I realized I could totally trust that he would, in fact, come to get me.
Which reminded me that some of my issues about his being “late” at the airport had to do with a childhood trauma around being left in a huge hardware store by my family, but that’s a story for a different day.
What I noticed was that, having become more conscious about what was going on, I was considerably less irritated about time and grateful that I knew I could trust him to show up.
So what, you’re probably wondering, does that have to do with a Facebook post about trusting the politician-in-chief?
Power.
But first, another very helpful thing I learned in hypnosis land.
There are two kinds of power in our world. Power over others which means that in order for someone to have more, everyone else must have less.
And power in order to matter. To make change for the good. The kind of em-power-ment in which we can all have more together.
In the current political climate in the US, I can trust approximately 1/2 of the politicians to be doing a really good job of working for power over all manner of “others” and the other 1/2 to be, while admittedly fallible humans, at least standing up for power in order to matter. For em-power-ment.
(You can do the math.)
So, on the same day I saw the infamous Facebook post, I was busily hunting and gathering in my favorite hardware store when an older gentleman who works there, obviously noticing the opinions pinned to my magical denim vest, asked if he might ask me a question.
Curious, I assured him that he might.
“You voted,” he began. “How do you decide?”
I was a bit startled. Mostly because he seemed really sincere. So I explained what I’ve just shared with you about my view of power and two kinds of politicians.
Then I said what you’ve heard me say before: that I have granddaughters growing up in this world and that guides the way I vote.
Em-power-ment – vs – power over. Every time.
Then my new friend in the red vest asked another question.
“What else do you know?”
Well, that was a bit of a puzzle.
A deep breath bought me a bit of thinking time and, miraculously, an answer.
Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
— George Santayana ( 2oth Century Spanish-American philosopher)
Today, proofreading and prayer dots. For the victims of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh and for hope that we might, indeed, learn from history.
So be it.