Who are we

One of Etan’s favorite this lockdown period aside from dinosaurs and insects is Moana.  He particularly loves Maui singing You’re Welcome and Tamatoa’s Shiny.  He would play those clips over and over again while dancing on the couch.  Etan is my four year son and he has the potential to be a great performer.

Moana is a lovely movie and it is a perfect reminder to all of us.  The people of Motonui had a decent life in an island until their fruits and plants started to decay brought about by a terrible curse incurred by a Demigod Maui.  The Chief didn’t know what to do and the people were scared.  Moana’s grandma suggested to look for Maui, take him aboard the boat, sail across the ocean and restore the heart of Te fiti.  Moana responded to Gradma’s call and sailed beyond the reef to look for Maui.  With the ocean’s help, she finally found Maui but they came up short and were beaten by the lava monster named Te Ka.  When Maui gave up because his magic hook was broken, Moana took upon herself to make things right and she was able to restore the heart of Te fiti.

Life is filled with barriers that make us afraid to venture beyond the reef.  Life within the barricade can be decent.  There is food, some shelter and wifi.  The world labeled this as a simple life and that we should remain contented.  We don’t need to go beyond the reef because everything we need is right here in this island.

This crisis taught us how vulnerable we are.  A simple curse brought by the irresponsibility of some folks in Wuhan is taking a toll on our ‘simple life’.  We have been removed from our normal life for three weeks now and it is threatening our health, both mental and physical.  We dream of a demigod to save us and when there is no food left, we become monsters destroying and killing everything we could get our hands on.

This crisis is telling us that life within the barricade is decent but debilitating.  It is debilitating because it makes you forget who you are.  We don’t live just to eat, breath and put some shelter above our head.  We live because we need to give love.  We love less because we are afraid.  To overcome fear all we need is to restore our heart.  We don’t need a demigod to restore it, you and I are capable of doing it ourselves.

We need to remember who you are.  And who are we?  This poem by Marianne Williamson best describes who we are.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other

people won’t feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.