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“An Open Letter to Those Who Speak to the World” | Letter from the Director | March 2020 Editorial

To those who speak out in the political realm, thank you for your willingness to be vulnerable by walking the line of spontaneity and care. When speaking to others, you are speaking on behalf of others— the ones who chose you, as well as the ones who didn’t. 

Essentially, each one of us speaks to the world simply by existing. Social media has broadened that communication by providing the possibility of somehow speaking to almost everyone. I myself have recently launched a global event that has opened a door for me to speak to the world. Day of Pause, taking place on May 20th, is a one-time invitation for all people on our beautiful planet to stop and take a deep breath, together. Through this process, I am realizing more deeply than ever the sacred gift it is to have anyone’s ears and eyes, for any amount of time.

It is from this place that I ask that you remember: You are not a politician, but a human being who practices politics. You hold the extraordinary privilege of representing and guiding us: making choices on our behalf that literally affect how we live much of our lives throughout each day, and how our living affects our planet. 

We know that you step into your role with the desire to bring change, to exert power, to leave a legacy, or any combination of these. If change is what is truly important to you, you must be willing to lose your position over it, because now, maybe more than any time in our history, is the time to do the right thing not the right thing for you or your party, but the right thing for as many people who are affected by your decisions as possible. Such decisions could make you wildly unpopular with some of your constituents, or even your own party, yet if you wish to leave a true and positive legacy, be known as the one who was ousted because they chose Love. 

Can you be willing to walk into the gallery with the intent to cooperate rather than compete? Are you willing to make choices that your children and your grandchildren will someday warm-heartedly share stories of? Can you put yourself in the shoes of the ones whose basic needs are most challenged by the choices you will make?

To the journalists and the reporters: Each of you is a direct channel between those who guide and those who are guided. In a time when doubt, fear, and distrust run so high, truth must be sought. You already know that you play a vital role in doing so. No story is too small when it is delivered with care and sincerity without the pretence and partisanship that cheats the eyes and ears that are doorways to the heart.

To those of you holding the extraordinary license of interviewing others: Such a situation is a portal into the soul of the one granted a position of power. To put forth an inquiry that so many others desperately want to ask is much more than a mere soundbite for the 6 o’clock news. For the rest of us, can you find the courage to ask the truly hard questions, and to truly seek the answers? 

We’re too familiar with polished responses that dance around the real question. While some of you go further by re-presenting the question, what typically follows is simply another bullshit answer and then we move on. Please, consider it your responsibility to, at the very least, publicly acknowledge that your actual inquiry was not given a respectful response. Seek out and identify the feeling in the space you share with your interviewee: the emotions emitted by each of you. Take a further chance to expose as much humanity as possible. The world needs it.

Remember that your role is not only to report, but to hold accountable those who have been given (willingly or unwillingly, by the rest of us) a degree of control over our very lives. You are a crucial link. Consider that to clearly acknowledge your question as being bypassed is not only an act of self-respect that builds our faith in you as a human being who delivers the message it brings the rest of us some solace, in knowing truth still matters. Thank you for seeking truth. 

No matter the context, to be granted the chance to speak and be listened to by another is an opening of both hearts even the tiniest crack to what comes from the other. What a privilege and honour. And now, maybe more than ever, is the time to seek the deeper humanity found in those who speak to the world.