can't we all just get along?

Billy's in basketball camp this week at NDSU, and he just loves it. They do stretches, high fives, clapping and jumping; all before they even touch a basketball. But today when I went to pick him up, he quietly told me a boy on the other team called him fat. I asked him if it hurt his feelings, and he said sort of. I took a deep breath. What's a mother to do? I wanted to put my arms around him and tell him it's not true - he's beautiful, perfect, just right, but somehow today I knew that just wouldn't cut it. So I looked at him and said, "Well, can you think of some things you can say back to people who say hurtful things to you?"

"How about, 'well, I can see that someone needs a nap,' " he said, then started smiling a little bit. "Or how about, 'well, at least I'm not mean,' " I suggested. He nodded his head. We talked back and forth, practicing what he could say if it should happen again. Finally I looked at him and said, "Bill, in a perfect world nobody has to be mean to anyone else, because we're all so happy with ourselves that we just want to love and help each other. Usually people who are mean are unhappy with themselves."

"Yeah," Bill said, "or they might be jealous."

"Of course," I answered. "A boy who's shorter than you might feel badly about that, so he'll pick on you because he thinks that might make himself feel better."

"But being mean to someone else doesn't help YOU," my Buddha Bill answered.

"No, it really doesn't," I said, then we turned to watch the playing, our arms draped loosely around each other's shoulders.

But as I sit here, I'm really wondering what's so tough about getting along? Why did that little boy have to say that to Bill? Why did he take the time to notice that Bill was different than he was, and then make that a criticism? Aren't we at a point in our soul's evolution that we can just look at each other and just see another being? You can tell me that people are mean, but I just don't buy that anymore. I think at the core all people are kind and beautiful and loving, and I think everyone WANTS to be that way, except we just don't know HOW to get there and/or stay there. "Stuff" gets in our way - we get tired, or restless, or impatient, or overwhelmed - something LOW gets into our lives and we let it get the best of us. Then there's Bill, who really hardly has a mean bone in his body. Don't get me wrong - he can be a little stinker sometimes, but overall he's loving and accepting of everyone. He lets them just BE, if that makes sense. He understands their shortcomings and loves them anyway. I want to be like Bill.

How many times have I been unconscious, and just said something mean, even hearing myself as I speak the words and wondering why I'm speaking them, when I don't even really mean them? How many times have I not hugged Steve when I really want to, because, well, he didn't unload the dishwasher and I'm not feeling too affectionate because he SHOULD have done that. Or whatever. Conditions, expectations, limitations, and habits. All low energy. And we're through the low energy. We popped out of that about three weeks ago - did you feel that intensity? Yowser, I know I sure did. But now everything is lighter on my insides, and I'm more peaceful, more loving, more centered. I did a meditation this morning in which I saw an infinity symbol weaving into the side of my body, curving and weaving out the other side. Up and down the length of my spine, a golden infinity symbol. It was just beautiful, and when it was all done, I had a hard time standing up, had a hard time focusing, like I had just taken a long nap. It was wonderful, and I'm still in that place. Something's DIFFERENT, don't you think?

So, if it IS all different in our lives, what do we need to do? I think it's about becoming more conscious of ourselves in our lives. Becoming present to ourselves, seeing our lives from our centers out, instead of living our lives on our outsides because we're always so dang busy. I bought some flowers at Baker's Nursery today, and enjoyed just walking up and down the aisles. I found some lamb's ear and held the fuzzy leaf against my cheek. It is SO soft. I put the carts into my car and listened to 91.1 as I drove home, humming. I don't think I could've been any happier than that moment, being totally present to myself and my life. It was perfect.

I wonder how long it will take us all to get to that place of Oneness? To that place where we all get along, because we finally realize that we're all just parts of the same thing. How can I hate myself? Well, okay, we actually DO hate ourselves sometimes, and that's part of the problem. So, first I love myself, then I love everyone else, and Billy dribbles the basketball with a smile on his face, KNOWING that he's perfect, and knowing that everyone else is perfect, as well. It IS all good, it really is. I know it is.