Keeping the 'High Watch'

Somehow the days just slip by. What with coming home after weeks on the road with only a few days in between out of town travels and of course working long hours while away, rest time was required. Also last week my friend Anne was here and we worked on the yard. Tuesday she took the bus back to Vancouver and I have been endeavoring to catch up with office and other paper work, plus fitting in clients not to mention just resting. But that is not what I want to write about here. It is about how I nearly lost my way (again).
I had become very upset with the Military Dictatorship in Burma as to how they were not responding to their people’s needs. I have kept an eye on this country, since watching the moving Beyond Rangoon with Patricia Arquette. It is a movie I accidently found and enjoyed it so much that I bought a copy. What I enjoyed in it was the political comment about Aung San Suu Kyi the woman who won the 1991 nobel peace prize but is kept under house arrest.
Then in fall last year it was reported this military dictatorship fired and killed monks who were protesting. This was just as I was getting busy traveling with work and did not follow it too closely but felt upset when I heard about it. Then came the cyclone.
I was angry, upset and thought someone should do something about the military dictator in charge of Burma. It seemed to me he did not think about his people. Then last Wednesday night, after my meditation group was over I mentioned this and to my surprise (I think I was hoping someone would shed some light on my state of thought) most agreed with me. But one woman (who I totally admire and have since thanked) took a breath, asked what time is it, and said “oh my, I have to go, busy day tomorrow”. As she walked into my kitchen and I gave her a hug goodbye, I got it!!!!
I realized that I had left the ‘high road’ of non judgment and had fallen into the trench of judging and holding onto resentment and anger. I remembered one of my personal lessons right now is non-judgment and here I was in super judgment. I wanted revenge or retribution for what I was judging as ‘sins against humanity’. After that hug, in the following second I let it all go, and moved into the awareness of acceptance and instead of wanting this dictator tried and hanged, to trusting he would be open to the world’s help for his people.
Two days later it was reported he was willing to allow in more aid works (if they came from other Asian countries – but it was a beginning) and since then, there seems to be even more openings happening. Everyday I send out the prayer that he will be open to accept the help in order to aid his people.
Another thought which crossed my mind when I realized how easy it was to get into revenge and not trust the higher process, came from the movie Munich, in which the assassins began to realize no matter who they killed off there was another person, if not worse than the one they killed to take their place.
Oh yes, how easy it is to fall into the trench of judgment and revenge. How easy it is to forget the ‘high watch’. But then again just one person, without realizing it can also make a difference. When I thanked my friend, she had not even realized what she had done. I believe subconsciously she did not want to go where I was, and was removing herself and that was all I needed to be reminded. I cannot possibly know what is truly happening. All I can do is accept and love and keep the high watch.
I trust you will join me in knowing the world dictators who perpetrate crimes against humanity will see the light and see it is not the way to treat their own or other peoples.
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Norma Cowie
250 490 0654
www.normacowie.com