A Story From Grosse Pointe - The Home of My Childhood

Heartfelt greetings

I just received this from someone I went to high school with - thanks, Bob. And before receiving this message, I had just returned home from errands where I had heard from someone along the way about this news story of a woman who denied candy to children trick or treating if their parents supported Barack Obama. I was shocked, and yet not shocked at all, to learn that this happened in Grosse Pointe, Michigan -- which is where I grew up. There is a definite exclusivity, bigotry, arrogance, narcissism, entitlement, and Us versus and an Other worldview that permeates much of this wealthy suburb of Detroit. I absorbed much of it growing up. And, gratefully, for many years now I have found the courage and the support necessary to take the glasses off when I look in the mirror and be willing to do something about what I found there. Embracing this shadow side of myself and the community in which I grew up has empowered me to change my life. I see this kind of courage to change, both individually and collectively, as something that is profoundly up for our attention at this time. May we all be part of this great shift, this Great Turning, in which we learn to love ourselves and one another. Tag, we are all it ... Molly

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Saturday, November 1, 2008

Supporting Obama? No treats for you at Grosse Pointe Farms house

Detroit News wire services

GROSSE POINTE FARMS -- A Grosse Pointe Farms woman has doled out political tricks by refusing Halloween treats to children whose parents support Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Shirley Nagel passed out candy Friday -- but only to those who shared her support for Republican presidential candidate John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin.

Fox 2 News says a sign posted outside Nagel's house, about 12 miles west of Detroit, served notice to all trick-or-treaters. It read: "No handouts for Obama supporters, liars, tricksters or kids of supporters."

Nagel tells WJBK-TV that "Obama's scary." When asked about children who'd been turned away empty-handed and crying, she said: "Oh well. Everybody has a choice."

Fax and phone messages were left Saturday at numbers listed in Nagel's name.

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"Paradoxically, we achieve true wholeness only by embracing our fragility and sometimes, our brokenness. Wholeness is a natural radiance of Love, and Love demands that we allow the destruction of our old self for the sake of the new." ~ Jalaja Bonheim, Aphrodite's Daughters

"A human being is a part of the whole called by us Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." ~ Albert Einstein