For the third day I woke with a vision in my mind and a name on my heart. The face I saw as I woke was that of a dark-skinned woman. Her makeup was meticulous and her hair perfectly coiffed. A delicate smile drew the corner of her mouth ever so slightly upward. Her nails were impeccably manicured. She looked deeply into the camera that captured her image. This was the face I saw. It was the face of Muhlaysia Booker.
If you follow the Dallas news you know that Muhlaysia Booker was recently filmed being beaten, then she left this earthly realm by the hands of another human.
There are many things that sadden me about this. Muhlaysia was merely a young adult in her early twenties. There is much of life she will not experience. Yet, even throughout her short life in this world, she experienced many things that I will never be asked to endure. Muhlaysia, you see, is a transgender woman. She was a woman who was born into the physical body of a male, yet with the cellular knowing she was female. It happens. This has happened through the ages. Yet, there are many today who live their true authentic selves, regardless of gender assigned at birth. I will never know the challenges, the struggles, the fears or the joys that Muhlaysia experienced. I have never met or spoken to her or her family or her friends. Yet, I am deeply moved, sadden and even disturbed by her life on this earth ending in a sudden and violent way.
I feel disturbed that humans hold such hate and vitriol toward another. I feel disturbed that no one stopped the beating Muhlaysia experienced in April. Instead, others cheered and encouraged the beating. Everything in me screams “No one deserves this!” I feel disturbed that this woman who is beloved of God was despised by some of her brothers and sisters. I feel disturbed and inadequate to have an impact of significance for the lives and rights of the transgender community. I feel disturbed that in our time, a time of great awakening on our planet, we have places of such sleepiness.
I feel sad for the loss of this life that family and friends now experience. I weep at the grief they now live as they create their tomorrows without their daughter and friend. I feel sad for the fear that an entire part of our city, state and country live in simply because of their gender. I feel sad that the soul of a person remains unseen because of a physical body. I feel sad for the misunderstanding of gender fluidity and identity and that for some people there is no desire to understand.
I hold hope, great hope, that humanity, evolving into our higher more conscious selves, will eradicate these labels we assign and the boxes in which we place people. I hold hope that we, all humanity, will begin to encounter each other as the pure, perfect souls we truly are. I hold hope that humanity will now begin to remember that we are all made of the same divine substance. We are one. The pain of one is the pain of all and that to love one is to love all. I hold hope that the day will soon come when we look upon one another with the same loving gaze that The Divine holds upon us.
In the meantime, there is much we can do. We can begin by attending the screening of TransPose on June 14th. TransPose is a documentary about life as transgender persons and families in Dallas. We can ask our questions to gain greater understanding of the people who bravely created this film. We can implore all of our elected officials to write, support and vote for legislation that upholds the rights of all our people. We can live the practice of “see something, say something”. We can live our Unity principle that tells us it is not enough to know truth principles, each of us are to live the Truth we know.
I am ever so grateful for the Unity principle that reminds us that all are created from the essence of the Divine therefore, we are all inherently good. May we always see each other through the eyes of goodness. May we be present to one another with grace, love, and compassion regardless of what we see with our human eyes.
I hear the words of a perfect Karen Drucker song:
You are the face of God
I hold you in my heart.
You are a part of me
You are the face of God.