The kinds of dismantling and interruption asked required of us during a global crisis, seems in some way parallel to the behavior we must individually face anytime placed atop a pedestal is either a person or system or entity perceived to be of superior value. As if they are or could be infallible.

I think back on the time(s) in my life when for instance:

~ Parents knew it all.
~ Teachers had all the answers.
~ Trainings taken always seemed ‘better’ or more informative than ones I had taken prior.

Maybe in part it’s, “know better, do better.” Possibly more so, “learn some, unlearn more.” For Black and BIPOC lives (Black Indigenous Persons of Color), the kinds of structural break we need to make is not only necessity, but long overdue. And not merely the last 4 years — try the last 400 in what we call America, alone. As a white woman, I am consistently needing to invest in personal and professional antiracist work towards the collective liberation deserving of us all. To unlearn systemic mistrust in the richest way possible, I believe it’s about learning from those who have the expertise, which usually is by way of those with lived experiences I have not or could not.

I work with therapy clients who are moving towards their personal freedoms within their family of origin and other generational traumas of oppression such as racial/ethnic bigotries, relationship needs, attachment. I surround myself with contacts whose relationships over time might fall apart if and once they recognize that whomever they thought they were with isn’t flawless, either.

How in your life have pedestals been placed? In what ways can you honor the system at hand by taking them out? Knocking them down?

I think this takes some real, hard honesty. It can be a very trying experience to, for example, look into the depths of what makes us uncomfortable or frustrated and see it in others close to us. Growing as a Mother myself, unlearning the processes that I beg no longer be placed upon me in a patriarchal way as well as a familial one. Joking with my mom herself about “why she didn’t tell me how f-#%&@ hard this is.”

Maybe pedestals simply belong in our gardens, underneath bird baths. Available for others to drink from rather than arch their neck to seek perfection. Might you clear your own mental landscape in this way? Get out of your emotional blocks by beginning to come down from impossible quests rather than falsely make an ascent to what cannot exist?