1/29/2023

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            I hope you did something fun yesterday. Pulling up weeds brought me some joy. Something about having my hands in the dirt puts me in my happy place.

I have already found joy today. How about you?

Mine came from a “gathered” Yangon Friends Meeting. Two of our group are on the Burma/Thai border & visited a refugee camp leaving them with the challenge of answering the question, “what cans’t thou do?”

            That is the question I was seeking to answer in 1992 when folks in LA were rioting after the acquittal of the officers involved in the Rodney King beating. I looked for an answer at the San Francisco Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends. Many messages were shared that day, but the one that stood out came from an elder reminding us to let go of anger & be silent. Over time I learned that Friends are seekers who embrace the mysteries of the universe as they look for God in one another.

“What cans’t thou do?” It is a question I ask again today about so many things – climate change, Tyre Nichol’s death, the atrocities in Burma, the lack of leadership in my department, my husband’s health condition.

            “What cans’t thou do?” In addressing this question this AM, one Friend shared the need to keep striving to ascend the arch of the moral universe that MLK talked about. Another noted that what we have to give is ourselves - our attention, our time & our friendship. A third reminded us that we are ONE.

            I appreciate that you have dedicated yourself to doing what you can to make the world a better place. I will continue to try to do the same.

BYBS,