Apr 21 2019
It was a holy week marred by death and destruction…and by debates over what to do with the long-awaited Robert Mueller report.
(Too busy to read and click through all the article links? Listen to this podcast episode, for highlights on the go.)
As The World Turns
Inconceivable blaze, incomprehensible terror
I didn’t think it was all that bad. When the first alerts of “Paris Notre Dame cathedral fire” lit up my cell phone on Monday, I dismissed them as a small incident, something that would be swiftly resolved.
The images of the fire on the mid-day news were hard to comprehend. I’d visited Notre Dame several years ago. The expanse of its front doors, the towering beauty of its bell towers, the splendor of its rose windows…how could something so grand, so invincible, be succumbing to flames?
Its wooden roof is no more, but many of its cultural and religious relics (and its centuries-old organ) were spared. A “computer glitch” may have been a factor in the blaze, and the city’s yellow vest protesters are “outraged the government could raise more than a billion dollars to help restore the burned Notre Dame cathedral while their demands to fight wealth inequality remain overlooked.”
Easter Sunday was looking to be a day of sombre reflection and renewal, only to be shattered by news of 8 devastating bombings across Sri Lanka. 3 churches and 3 luxury hotels were targeted, suggesting it was an act of religious violence or political terrorism. At the time of this writing, hundreds have been killed and injured, making it the deadliest terror attack since 9/11. Violence rocked Sri Lanka for more than 25 years via a civil war between the Sinhalese Buddhist majority and Tamil minority. After 10 years of relative calm, this terror attack comes amid resurgent Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism, and familiar echoes of minorities feeling disenfranchised.
Mueller report is out – debating the presidency, Congressional powers, and upholding the Constitution
After 22 months, Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his investigative team have released their long-awaited report on Russian interference in the US 2016 presidential election, and on whether the sitting president committed obstruction of justice.
There are helpful summaries of the 448-page report, and bound copies are topping Amazon sales charts, technically making Robert Mueller a bestselling author.
One of the most cogent outlines of what’s in the report, and what’s next in the political process, came from Joshua Johnson:
“The report says that the President of the United States engaged in behavior that, per one commentator, you could describe as lawful but awful, that the prosecutors did not have enough of the legal basis to press charges for constitutional and legal reasons, that the president is not exonerated from wrongdoing and that now, the power rests with Congress, vis a vis the people to do something, if anything.”
Joshua Johnson
American radio talk show host, on Meet the Press, Apr 21 2019Om Is Where The Heart Is
Finding like minds and hearts
As I continue to grow into my role as a peaceful leadership advocate, the work is becoming more inter-disciplinary. And contrary to conventional marketing wisdom, I’ve finally cast aside the notion that I must define, then find, an ideal “target” to do that work with. That super-structured approach had kept me spinning in counterproductive circles. I’m learning that the art of building peace happens one organic encounter at a time, where serendipity plays a starring role, and patience needs to be a constant companion.
This week, I surrendered to that serendipity, and actively cultivated that patience.
I had to.
Because in a sacred week marred by so much tragedy and confusion in our headlines, I still needed to process and share my thoughts with you, and I still wanted to connect with career peacemakers who were in town to share their wisdom.
Meeting those peacemakers helped me consume the horrible headlines with more perspective and grace. Slowly but surely, I’m building my network of inter-disciplinary peers/mentors, people who will be my source of calm nourishment, and who will make violent weeks in the future a little easier to traverse.
News and Views
Create your meaningful life
Weeks like these remind me how transient life is, and how much I want to help you make the most out of that life.
Starting May 2019, I’m conducting “Create a Meaningful Life in an Uncertain World,” a 75-minute workshop designed to deepen and expand your quest for meaning in work and life. It’s based on the tools and insights I’ve gleaned on my own rich, if turbulent, journey.
I live to ease that journey for you, through this workshop and the other services I offer.
–> Learn more and register for the workshop here.
In the next issue:
I plan to catch up on some writing projects, so I don’t have anything clearly defined for next week’s issue of Peace Matters. But, the news gods always proffer something new for me to write about and uncover some peaceful perspective on…so the blank page will fill up soon enough.
Till then…
Live well and lead large – Maya
(featured image of Notre-Dame de Paris by Cécile Pallares Brzezinski CC BY-SA 4.0.)