My word for 2016 is ATTEND.
Although I don’t think attending is a superpower, some days I wish it was. On those days, I think if one more person promises that he or she has the superpower to right all wrongs and save US from THEM, I daydream about sticking a pencil in my (or someone else’s) eye. On my better days, however, I choose to acknowledge that while I have no superpowers and am responsible TO the World – I’m not responsible FOR it. I’m responsible FOR my life and how I choose to live it.

To that end, I will attend to what and whom I can. And I’ll remember that I don’t have to attend every argument, drama or political whack-o-doodleness to which I’m invited. Each Sunday , I’ll share something here – an image, a poem, a song or maybe even a story that’s helped me attend to what I can that week.

A lot of people have asked me this week, ” What can we do?”  While I can’t tell anyone else what to do, I’m going to (in no particular order):

• make eye contact with people I see;
• thank people (by name, when possible) who serve me;
• ask generous questions and listen generously to the answers;
• look for common ground, before preparing a defensive response;
• refrain from using an electronic device when in the presence of another human;
• continue to contact my Congressional Representatives;
• resist the impulse to believe that anyone who believes differently from me is WRONG;
• choose to act rather than react;
• share my story;
• hear others’ stories;
• not shoot anyone;
• breathe;
• fear not;
• express gratitude;
• while always offering prayer for a better way.

How about y’all?