by Eva van Loon

What if we gave ourselves a heart-shaped present this Valentine’s Day? What if, for one day, we allowed ourselves to stop struggling, striving, competing? What if we gave up worry, just for today? What if we took a one-day vacation from trying to overcome the daunting obstacles in our lives, the big and the small ones? Just took a day to breathe, slowly, in...out...in...out...look around, watch the colors brighten, love whatever or whoever appears....

So much has been written about the effects of stress on health that we all know exactly what we shouldn’t be doing if we want to live long and worthwhile lives—but most of the time we can’t stop doing those things, because it seems society continues to require us to master our bodies, our enemies, our challenges. A successful life is a dominant life. The cult of personal fame that props up TV programming reinforces the value of dominance every hour.

Could it be that we are sick of it all? Did we weep and scream for joy on November 4 because it seems possible the cult of empire—of the insane need to be the richest, the strongest, the best—might end at last? Could we really be ready to love this planet and share it with its other species and with our fellows at last?

Rabbi Lerner of Tikkun magazine (the name means transformation in Hebrew) says a lot of wise and balanced things on his site, www.spiritualprogressives.org. He published this letter, to President Obama from Charles T. Phillips, without comment. Reproducing it here, in part, is our Valentine’s heart to you.

“U. S. government needs to adopt a new strategy of generosity toward all the world’s people and nations, to replace the strategy of domination that has so long been the policy paradigm. A way of demonstrating generosity is the proposed Global Marshall Plan, which would devote 1-2% of the gross product of all the developed nations over 20 years to help 2 billion of the world’s people move out of poverty through aid and investments specifically directed toward this population. This proposal was introduced in the House of Representatives as H. Res. 1078, and more information is available at the Network of Spiritual Progressives web site (spiritualprogressives.org).

“Second, we need to transform all institutions including the U. S. government to act not merely for economic benefits but also to encourage people’s natural inclination toward love, generosity, compassion, imagination, and wonder at the beauty of the planet Earth and of the universe in which we live. You may say, this is too idealistic. But today, idealism is the new realism. So-called realism, through the strategy of domination, has only led to endless wars, needless suffering, and exploitation. It’s time for radical changes as described above. The world is waiting.”

Are you listening, City Council? Act from love. Employ the strategy of generosity. Transform this place we love.