Hello dear friend, I hope you are well.

Recently, I saw the clips below on Twitter. These clips, but particularly the second one with J-Hope, struck me as relevant given my two posts here (Miracle Pill and The marks we leave).

responsibility rooted in love pic.twitter.com/XU6pOQ2kuP

— wisha (@doyou_bangtan) September 24, 2019

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately – particularly with resuming writing here, with starting the Reiki/Tarot channel on YouTube, and with attaining Master level in Reiki training – though I don’t have a large platform at the moment, as long as my voice is reaching even one other person, don’t I have a responsibility to choose my words with care?

I don’t know about you, but I see my purpose here, in this life, to be as simple as this – leave the world slightly better than I found it, even if all I can offer is a kind word or a smile. I know we can never claim to be able to avoid harming everyone we encounter – because we can only control ourselves and our own reactions, right? And we can only do our best to make the best possible choice at any given moment, knowing that at a later date, our wiser and older selves might see a different path, but also knowing that all we can ask of ourselves is to do our best, to “have courage and be kind” – right?

That said, I do believe it is important to be aware of who we are speaking with and how our words might impact them, to the max extent we can given the situation in which we find ourselves.

I also believe that as one’s platform grows, the responsibility it carries grows with it. When putting ourselves out there, yes, please, don’t give up your voice and your power, but…but please be aware of your audience, as much as you can. When addressing a topic, especially one that may be controversial, isn’t it important to educate oneself on the facts and on the various points of view surrounding the topic at hand? Isn’t it important to think before we speak? Isn’t it important to remember that as much as I am the main character in my life, with my own journey and opinions, so too are you in yours? Don’t I need to account for that, make space for that, and acknowledge that though my opinions are my own, they in no way negate yours? But don’t I also have a responsibility to share the lessons I’ve learned if I think they can help? And don’t I also have a responsibility, as a fellow human being who knows people often hide what they are going through, to do my best to withhold any judgement I have about your circumstances? Don’t I have a responsibility to do what I can to make a safe space for you because others have done the same for me?

*sigh* I don’t know, friend. I believe those are my responsibilities, but do I really have a right to assume they are responsibilities others should shoulder as well? Maybe not…perhaps definitely not. Because I would also never, EVER tell you to place yourself in danger physically, mentally, or emotionally in order to defend an ideological stance, or yourself, or another person. You have to take care of you first, as I have to take care of me, because we cannot pour from an empty cup. So I would never tell you to embody the same sense of righteousness Esmeralda shows in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” when she demands “Justice!”

unless you feel so called, and I would never tell you to “Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it” indefinitely –

but I would caution you, and me, to consider the facts at hand, from a variety of sources if possible, before acting – because I believe it is better to be prepared. But I would also never, ever, ever tell you to give away your power, your voice, your core beliefs in order to chase something else you want – I would never ask you to sign away your voice as Ariel does.

I would never ask this, because I believe it is possible, always, to find a way to chase what it is we want and to share what we are meant to share, while doing our best to avoid harm to others and ourselves. Is it easy? Sometimes, not always.

Again, I don’t know…this is something I’m still mulling over, but I wanted to share my thoughts so far – what are yours?

Love always,

Katie