My son and I spent yesterday on Capital Hill, advocating for ovarian cancer awareness and funding.  It was amazing on so many levels.

To begin, I met many of the women I share with on FB.  FB has a page for those with ovarian cancer, and I have to say, we are the nicest group of women I’ve ever met!  Were we that way before diagnosis, or it because we’ve stared death in the face?  I don’t know, I just know we are love.

The DC Cab system is amazing!  DC itself is beautiful.

Our Government is really complicated.  It reminds me of the 2 swim clubs in my community.  One is 3x’s larger than the other, and it is falling apart, losing members and having financial difficulties.  The other is thriving.  I’ve been a member of both, and worked on the board and here is my conclusion:  Larger is harder to manage than smaller.  Period.  The costs associated with the extra acres are substantial, therefore changing the financial outlook. So, comparing our government with Sweden, or France is comparing apples and oranges.

My son and I were in DC during a tumultuous time.  The news, FB, instagram, and all other forms of communication are filled with #blacklivesmatter or  #policematter.  I was concerned heading to our nations capital.  Nothing happened, except love and support.  While in the Capital buildings I saw no anger, hostility, or angst.   What I saw was people getting along, trying to do the right thing, doing hard jobs, dealing with complicated matters: and taking it seriously.

Even though I was with a group of lovely women, there was 1 complainer.  We stood on the Capital Steps for about 20 minutes, in the hot sun, to get a group pic.  This was important, because the number of us, wearing the color teal, is an impactful visuals and, as we all know, visuals stick in our minds.   In that group of over 100 people, there were young and old, healthy and sick.  We all had appointments at different times, so there were some stragglers to the photo shoot.It was hot and uncomfortable, and watching the stragglers slowly make their way to the steps was frustrating.  All but 1 of the women waited patiently.  One woman complained, getting louder as she was ignored.   We have no idea why the stragglers were late, or walked slowly.  We have no idea why the complainer was so loud in her disapproval.  None of us walk in their shoes, so we can not judge; we Must Not Judge.

The love among the majority Won.  The picture happened, with all of the participants.  It could have gone the other way.  The voice of the unhappy could have become a wave of anger that infected our group, one by one, making us turn away from each other, attack rather than love.

Love is better than Hate.  Every day we make the choice:  will we focus on the Love or the Hate?   Will we focus on the bad seed, who takes out his/her anger in an atrocious manner, like a mass shooting, or will we focus on the hundreds who come to the aid of victims?  Will we go out into the world sharing love and hope, or anger and despondence?

What we say matters.  What we think matters.  What we attend to matters.  

As a fan of the Constitution Museum I know one thing for sure:  the issues people deal with are universal and timeless.  The issues citizens wrote about 200 years ago are what we struggle with today.  Power, fairness, greed, sharing, accessibility, having a voice, being equal – all the same as 200 years ago.  Please go if you haven’t; it’s so enlightening.

We see what we want to see.  I choose to see those helping the victim, not the perpetrator.  I choose to see the love, not the hate.  I choose to see the good deeds, not the evil ones, and to focus my attention on what we do well, not what we mess up.  I guess this means I’m done with the news, which is great, because it will free up time for me to contact my government reps!  And reach out to those in need.

I have my cause, I have my purpose, I have my stance:  Love.

 

 

PS:  And getting the air conditioning turned down on MegaBus!  Brrrrrrr!