Alligator Alcatraz, is, for me, the Final Straw

Fourth of July weekend delivered us the UGLY, SMALL-minded Budget Bill from Hell, floods that killed dozens in Texas and finally, DUMP's demoniacal plan to destroy immigrants in Florida swamps.

Something snapped inside my mind and heart over the weekend. I blame it first on that Great Big and Abysmally Selfish Bill passed on of all days, the Fourth of July. Then the heartbreaking Texas floods that carried away dozens, including sweet young children from a summer camp sitting on the horribly swollen Guadalupe river.

The final straw: a column by my dear friend, writer Josh Powell, who laid out in AGONIZING detail DUMP’S newest crackpot idea:

to detain and demean AND CLEARLY TO DESTROY immigrants housed in metal cages circled by razor wire and surrounded by alligators in the Everglades. The hastily constructed site is appropriately called “ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ,” but woe is me, how the hell have we as a nation come to this, allowing dizzyingly inhumane treatment of immigrant populations, many many of whom have absolutely no criminal records.

Many news reports say that the cages have already flooded once, as storms rage in the Everglades.

All of this came crashing in on me yesterday morning. I couldn’t read any more horrific news stories. I struggled even to skim the relentless headlines bringing us moment-by-moment updates about body counts in the Texas rescue effort.

And then the final straw: to see photos of DUMP touring the disgraceful cages in Florida. Is it any wonder I had not one but two apocalyptic nightmares that woke me up with a vicious headache.

I was exhausted and shaky when I headed to my meditation table early Sunday morning. I was so upset I couldn’t start meditating without journaling first.

When I finally fell quiet, it hit me: I needed an immediate infusion of some kind of deep spiritual guidance. And as often happens, the Universe almost immediately

presented me with this segment by famed spiritual guide and yoga teacher Tara Brach.

So later in the day, I plugged in my headphones, closed my eyes and listened. Within minutes, my breathing had settled down, my anger sank to a low simmer, and I felt connected to a kind of faucet of warm goodness. Frustration started to melt away.

Relying as she does on fabulous stories, Brach doesn’t mince words. She talks very directly about suffering, and she acknowledges what we already know: everyone everywhere knows suffering. For some unfortunate people lately, the suffering has been off the charts, and it continues.

Suffering is extraordinarily difficult for anyone, of course, but Brach’s position is that if you stay with it, suffering will yield up a remarkable opportunity. Suffering, it turns out, holds the key to our spiritual growth. If you are suffering, Brach says, that means that there is a deeper more conscious self that is clamoring to come alive inside you. She repeatedly compares our human transformation as a kind of chrysalis that produces richer consciousness, just as a pupa brings about the world’s magnificent butterflies. We humans pass through a similar kind of transformation when we let go, and learn to expand into a larger, more loving awareness.

However, it is important to emphasize: there is suffering and then there is SUFFERING. I’ve had suffering; I endured an excruciating summer of chemotherapy 23 years ago, for one thing.

But I don’t begin to know suffering in all caps, the SUFFERING IN GAZA, the SUFFERING OF TERRIFIED IMMIGRANT GROUPS facing detention and deportation, THE UNIMAGINABLE HORRIFYING SUFFERING OF THE TEXAS PARENTS who have lost their precious children.

I know that my life is blessed, and yet, I still desperately needed Brach’s good words. I ended up listening to this episode in short segments, limiting myself to about ten minutes at a time, so as to better absorb Brach’s lessons.

If you’re feeling like I am, as if the world is spinning the wrong way, and the present cruel regime — DUMP’s been in office only six months — has you already dangling at the end of your rope, then consider listening to Brach. Her words are an extraordinary antidote to the bullshit and brutality coming out of the sewer system that has captured our government.

If you are finding yourself feeling hopeless and scared and certain that the world is coming to an end, do yourself a favor.

Take a few minutes. Settle into a quiet place, in your backyard or a neighborhood park, preferably among birds and butterflies and flowers. Slip the earbuds in and listen to the incredibly hopeful and inspiring words offered by Tara Brach, who has been a yoga teacher and spiritual advisor for about 45 years.

If, after you finish listening, you feel the way I did, you may be inspired to spread her heartfelt words. Send them on to a friend or two, people you know who are also despairing, about the deaths in the Guadalupe River, or to the many efforts by the U.S. Government to line the pockets of the already wealthy at the expense of the poor.

DUMP’s minions are hellbent to do so many things that are nasty and regressive and inhumane and cruel, via legislation that seems to bring big smiles to their faces as they target the vulnerable. Many on Medicaid, for example, are guaranteed to die at the hands of their new bullshit budget legislation.

So many many of us are desperate for psychic solace, and Brach delivers, many words of comfort. Make sure to listen to the whole hour because the very last story Brach tells is just stunning and will almost certainly bring you to tears.

For a change, though, these won’t be tears of despair and anger or fear, as we are so familiar with today. No, these will be tears of astonishment and gratitude. I guarantee you that you will smile, and that at least for a little while, you will be filled with hope.