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5 โข Happy Pride! ๐
Wisdom and inspiration from Jane Fonda, a tireless activist from the 1970โs to today.
This week I saw Jane Fonda at the Castro Theater talk about her life as an activist, starting in the 1970โs and continuing stronger every still today, age 85. She is a legend. It started with a 1979 interview clip about why Jane was supporting gays & lesbians. Her answer, explaining the very real and harmful discrimination and oppression LGBT people faced, was profound, insightful, and subversive even by todayโs standards. And this was 44 years ago.
The whole evening Jane knocked it out of the park with insights, and a couple of great quotes too:
โYou canโt make your life longer, but you can make it deeper.โ
On her 59th birthday she realized that she was going to turn 60 in a year and start her third act in life, exceptโฆ she didnโt really know who she was. So, she requested all the FBI files on herself to figure out was was deeply rooted in herself, and learned that she really was meant to fight for important causes.
On the topic of finding your purpose late in life:
โItโs okay to be a late bloomer, just donโt be late for the flower show.โ
Create the meaning you want in your life. Start today and every day.
I didnโt get to ask her my question: what advice do you have for engaging in social activism in ways that bring people together, that donโt cause people to feel shamed or judged and become immediately defensive, closed off to new ideas, and resentful?
Fortunately, my two friends from checks notes the line for getting into the theater had their thoughts on it: meet people where they are, find your common groundโfor example, we all want happiness, safety, and securityโand build bridges.
The meaning I want to create in this life is building bridges with Love.
Iโm no longer interested in using shame as a weapon.
Iโm no longer interested in โbeing rightโ in intellectual ways while simultaneously causing harm in emotional ones.
Iโm no longer interested in seeing other people as enemies, even if they treat me as theirs.
This is part of the work of what it means to go Love First: to see people for having lived a valid life story, for being worthy of love and support and respect and kindness, for creating space so that people can be themselves and engage in meaningful dialogue without having their guard up at all times.
Being out about a part of your authentic that is, or historically has been, shamed or judged or oppressed or used as a justification for harm as severe as murder, is what Pride is all about. Existing as an LGBTQIA+ person causes no harm to anyone. It just upsets some peopleโs status quo.
Letโs upset the status quo with Love.
Happy Pride ๐
Help me help you!
Iโm writing this newsletter to help people navigate the challenges in life and tackle them head on, with love in your heart. Let me know in the comments what youโre struggling with and might want another perspective on, or share this post or newsletter with someone you wish to send love to. ๐
5 โข Happy Pride! ๐
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