I'm writing with a heavy heart tonight in the wake of the horrific murders in Charleston.
I'm not religious, but feel a kinship with people on a spiritual quest, people who seek to connect with and/or to serve something greater than themselves. The victims of this crime certainly must have been doing just that.
It took decades for me to even be interested in anything spiritual. First I had to be willing to let go of my will to power. Working as an artist, humbled by artistic blocks and achieving far less than I'd hoped for brought me to my knees. Eventually humiliation was transmuted into the freedom and joy of being a channel for the work I had tried so hard to accomplish by force.
Would that everyone could realize the deep and widely applicable truth of my father's firm suggestion. (The precise circumstances are murky but likely involved me tattling on my sisters in trying to get the upper hand.) "Taking care of Anne is a full-time job." That and "Live and Let Live".
Rest in peace.
Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton
Cynthia Hurd
Susie Jackson
Ethel Lance
Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor
Hon. Rev. Clementa Pinckney
Tywanza Sanders
Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr.
Myra Thompson