Recently the movie Black Panther has been quite a major success, ranking as the highest-grossing film of 2018 as well as the fifth highest-grossing film ever in the United States and the 12th highest-grossing film of all time. There are many reasons for its great popularity. It is my hope that we are all resonating and truly hearing one of its greatest messages communicated by T’Challa in his address to the United Nations:

“Wakanda will no longer watch from the shadows. We cannot. We must not. We will work to be an example of how we, as brothers and sisters on this earth, should treat each other. Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe.”

One single tribe. Brothers and sisters. All of us. Those of us who have two legs with darker skin, lighter skin, fat, skinny, gay, transgender, queer, heterosexual, republican, democratic, libertarian, born here, born there — all of us; those of us with four legs, and those of us with wings, and those of us with fins, and those of us who crawl on the earth… we are all interconnected. We all share the same home, this earth. 

Charlie Kaufman, the great film writer of Adaptation, Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, states a similar message:

 “We're all one thing, like cells in a body. 'Cept we can't see the body. The way fish can't see the ocean. And so we envy each other. Hurt each other. Hate each other. How silly is that? A heart cell hating a lung cell.”

Why can’t we seem to get this? In times of great divide, when bans are lifted on trophy hunting the great elephants who are leaving the planet like so many other species; when long time tax-paying immigrants are being separated from their families as they are dragged out of their homes in handcuffs or hunted down at their children’s bus stops, taken to deportation centers that are actually prisons; when black men, like Stephon Clark, are being brutally and unjustifiably shot twenty times by police; when children are being murdered in their schools by mentally ill people who can purchase AR-15 semi-automatic weapons and people are fighting for their right to bear any and all arms no matter what; when the Stream-Protection Act is repealed so coal and mining companies can dump their wastes into our streams increasing the amount of toxic metals in our water; when the list goes on and on, why can’t we seem to wake up to the fact that we are hurting, hating and destroying ourselves?

Chief Seattle, in the 1800’s,  saw the signs for our future destruction and tried to warn us in his address:

“The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. Every part of the Earth is sacred. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clear and humming insect is holy. The perfumed flowers are our sisters; the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and the human being, all belong to the same family. All beings are bound together. All things connect. All beings share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man... the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.”

We receive messages through time, whether it comes through Indian Chiefs, movie producers, children who survived mass murder in their schools, teachers, authors, or earth itself, the message is the same. Our oneness is not a new age pretty concept; it is an actual reality.

The state of affairs in our country and world can be overwhelming and completely heart wrenching. Yet, it is not a time to be in denial, immobile or in sleepy mode. It is a time to be awake, for our voices to be heard and to believe that every action counts. As small as our actions may seem, they matter. Every day to do something - a call to our Senators, a letter to express outrage, or support a bill to be passed or stop a bill, be a wise consumer, march, actively support others who are in non-profit organizations that are doing the front-line work - all of it matters.

This is not a plea to convince you or preach to you. It is merely an expression that arises from the pain of all the atrocities, the screaming out that we can’t drop a nuclear bomb across the planet and not know that all of us who live on land, seas and skies across the world — all of us — without exception, will be impacted. This is a calling out, from my deepest heart, to our humanity, to wake up to our oneness and not only know that we are One Tribe, but to live as if we know we are One Tribe.