Yesterday a white woman about 60 attacked me for being an “insane progressive” because I was wearing a mask while standing outside the Mill Valley library.  I was admiring the beautiful garden and the redwood trees.  I was at peace, and then stunned, thinking I’d mis-heard, but then I Googled it.  It’s a “thing”.  

When I went to bed, a story from childhood came to me, the one about the bet between the wind and the sun about who could get the man to take off his raincoat.

The wind blew and blew, and the man just drew his coat tighter, but the sun shone down with bright rays and the man took his coat off.

I continue to believe in the way of the sun though I know there’s a place for the wind to blow through too.

These are challenging times, but I woke this morning to the words from the poem Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye.  We can choose our response and how we live.  

https://poets.org/poem/kindness