Interuptions

Interruptions

Sitting in my spot, hands poised over my laptop keys, the self-imposed deadline for my op-ed loomed over me.  I was searching desperately for a metaphor or an image to communicate my feeling of discouragement after visiting my Senators in Washington, D.C.  The right words refused to emerge, skulking behind a surfeit of clichés and strained similes.  “Okay,” I thought, “you win.  I’ll try something else.”  The challenge provoked a perfect illustration to surreptitiously emerged at the edge of my consciousness.  My fingers quickly reached for the keyboard, only to be disconnected from this breakthrough by the simultaneous ringing of the phone.

Without any preliminary greeting, my younger brother blurted out, “I have some bad news.  My doctor has recommended I begin Hospice care.  He says I’m experiencing congestive heart failure and potential Kidney failure.  It means I probably have six months or less to live.”

So much for my op-ed.  This was a deadline I had not contemplated nor agreed to accept.  What were the right words?  This was not an exercise in tricking my muse to help flesh out an essay. I needed flesh and blood honestly about my despair while also seeking to honor my brother’s hope for a dignified end-of-life experience.  Hesitant to speak, I listened.  He spoke straight forwardly about his future.  He was not maudlin but saw the coming days as a fulfillment of his faith. He was not in denial or bargaining. He genuinely sees his death as meeting God and reuniting with his deceased wife and son.

We discussed his medical care, no dialysis or heroics, as well as his views on the funeral and burial.  I’m his nearest relative.  He lives alone.  We made plans for my wife and I to travel from our home in New Hampshire to his home in Florida.  We spent several days there reminiscing and meeting some of his friends and hospice support people.

The first interrupting phone call nearly dropped me into a basement of despair. Now I’m lifted up with the phone calls, e-mails, Facetime, and occasional flights to Florida to stay connected.  I know that too soon our communications will be interrupted by a phone call from my brother’s pastor.  When it comes we shall buy one more ticket to Florida for the funeral.  And I shall probably try to trick my muse into helping me express my grief and loss.

 

 

 

Empathy Introduced into the Senate

It was a sunny spring day in Washington, D.C.   We were midway through our visits to the offices of our Senators and Representative advocating for legislation concerning Palestinian rights and just political solutions.  Legislative aids and assistants listened carefully as we described the difficulties of Palestinians living in the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.  They exhibited concern for our accounts of Palestinian experiences with home demolitions, military arrests and detainment of children and youth, taking of land by Israeli settlers, settler destruction of farmlands and olive trees, and severe restrictions of movement through Israeli military checkpoints within the Palestinian territory.

However, proposed legislation in the Senate lacks understanding and limits the freedom of those who refuse to be complicit in the oppressive actions of the Israeli government toward Palestinians.  For example, S.Res.120 is a resolution “opposing efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel and the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement targeting Israel.”  This resolution establishes that any conversation or action that questions Israel’s apartheid and racist policies is “delegitimization of the State of Israel.” It also denigrates people refusing to buy products originating from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.  These people refuse to be complicit in profit-taking from products produced by Israeli settlers on occupied Palestinian land.  Senator Hassan and Shaheen are cosponsors of this resolution against free speech and non-violent resistance.  Representative Pappas is a cosponsor of a corresponding resolution in the House of Representatives, H.Res.246.

Also, Senate bill 852 – “Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2019,” conflates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.  We were unable to get any commitments from legislative aids that their Senators would vote against this bill that expands the definition of anti-Semitism from prejudice against Jews to include voicing any disapproval of unjust actions by the state of Israel.  (Even writing this essay will be considered out of bounds if these resolutions and bill were to pass).

It seemed like our conversations on the Hill about human beings in distress were being overshadowed by political, financial, and military power to solve problems.  I wondered, “Is this methodology all there is circulating through the halls of Congress?” My hopefulness plummeted as we rode the elevator in the Dirksen Senate Office Building down to the basement dining room.  However, in the elevator with us was a Senate staffer.  She asked about a pin I was wearing on my lapel and introduced herself.  She asked what we were doing and encouraged us saying that representative government is all about constituents communicating with elected officials.

Getting off the elevator, she offered to guide us to the dining room.   During the walk through the lengthy corridors she told us about the Senate Office of Training and Development.  she explained, “among the various professional skills programs they offer to support the work of the Senate are courses in listening and other communication skills.  These courses are the result of researching the needs of Senate employees and legislative staff who are daily subjected to anger, abuse, and pushback when meeting with constituents.  Working with some of the Senate staff, they have developed a workshop to teach skills of empathy in order to hear constituents while avoiding inevitable burnout from the stress of our current political climate.”

The source of this approach comes from health care settings dealing with patient injury and pain.  It is also supported by principles of humane ethics. I expressed amazement that such a program exists in the Senate.  Later in the afternoon while searching for an exit from the Dirksen building, we stumbled upon a door displaying the nameplate of the Office of Training and Development.  We stepped inside to thank them for their work.

The Office of Training and Development really exists in our United States Senate! In the hidden reaches of the maze of offices, hearing rooms, and service areas there is a place sowing the seeds of empathy and care for all human beings.  There are people there offering an alternative to labeling, name calling, fault-finding, and self-righteousness.  Beneath all of the political posturing of nation states dwells a movement to enhance the state of humanity.  I have been given hope that in time the movement will burst into the open, like the spring tulips sprouting from underground bulbs into a library of multi-colored blooms on the sunny streets of Washington D.C.

Meanwhile, it is up to us to prepare the way by filling our neighborhoods and the halls of Congress with hospitality, empathy, freedom, peace with justice, and love for all people.  It begins with us.  Also, the next time you visit the Dirksen Senate office building, drop by the Office of Training and Development and join me in saying, “Thank you.”