Yesterday I commented on a blog about the extreme religious right in Israel. I mentioned a defining moment when my daughter Mikayla, then sixteen, was spat upon by a very “pious” young man as we were waiting for a bus in Jerusalem.
The Huffington Post blog I commented on was well written and told the tragic story of the now sixty-nine year old man whose brother and family were murdered in the Holocaust.
It is worth reading.
I was fascinated by the number of responses I received to what I wrote. Someone went to the site of Mikayla’s documentary, “Living in Conflict”, and someone else decided to buy my book “Don’t Bring It to Work”.
As I thought about this before falling asleep last night, I was again, fascinated; this time by the thread from mother to daughter. My leadership book, “Don’t Bring It to Work“, is, in part, about behavior patterns handed from one generation to the next. Mikayla’s powerful and poignant film has a similar theme running through it.
While I teach, as best I can, how we are connected and how if patterns of behavior in one generation are denied and ignored, they will show up in the next generation. Conversely, that which is bright and good, behaviors like altruism and accountability will also show up in the next generation.
I am certainly proud of my daughter, actually both of my daughters, who care about making this planet a more positive and healthy place.
I see the themes that were handed to me being handed to them.
I am also clear that much of the work of today is to observe, understand, and transform the ingrained patterns that get in the way of honest and dignified relating.
Carl Jung, a man of infinite wisdom, said
The greatest tragedy of the family is the unlived lives of the parents.
For me, that means not completing unfinished business. It is evident that if not completed, it will be repeated.
Sadly, as I think about the many holocausts of this planet, we are repeating rather than completing. I’d love to hear your stories of saying “It will stop with me”. I’d like to compile a book that will give heart to those who still stay at the edge of change. You can email me directly at sylvia@ceoptions.com.
