Oh boy, has Paula Deen ever touched a deep, sensitive nerve with many people ... and BIG business. And oh, how quickly the fingers have started pointing.
It seems to me it is so much easier to vilify someone who admits they made a mistake than for each of us to step back and consider our own errors in judgement. And notice right now what judgements you are making about me and what I'm saying.
Of course I don't condone racism or any other form of abuse towards anyone. Of course I am as guilty as the next person of having, at one time or another, said or done something that is an insult or denigration of someone. I'm just as human as Paula Deen. The difference is that her celebrity status makes her more vulnerable to public admonishments.
Is she truly sorry? I'm not a follower so I don't have any insight into what she portrays in the public realm. I can only imagine what she feels but I know that every single one of us has something we regret and would take back if only we could. And please let me be clear. Every single one of us has the capacity to be racist. It's the foundation of the Shadow Work that I teach - that I believe "whatever we admire or despise in someone else, also lives within us." The messy, ugly, embarrassing, shameful parts of ourselves that we avoid or deny are projected onto other people.
When we pretend to be 'above' the behaviours we dislike in others we set ourselves up for an inevitable, head on collision with the very thing we most resist. Paula Deen will be held up by many as an example of insensitivity and discrimination. Yet, what if we all looked within ourselves and asked the powerful question "How am I like that in my life?"
Maybe we would spend less time making her wrong and more time finding ways to connect with each other. I humbly submit that there is NO place in our world for hurtful criticism and shaming whether it is against a culture, race, religion, sexuality OR someone who admits to a failing with a commitment to change.
Hold your head up Paul Deen. At least you are willing to admit your failures. Rise up - for in the words of Mary Pickford "Failure is not the falling down, but the staying down." You are leading the way for other courageous people to own their stuff too. Someone, somewhere is following your example and telling their story. It may have taken legal action to illicit your omission but nevertheless, once the truth was revealed, you have demonstrated a sincere desire to be authentic.
It seems to me it is so much easier to vilify someone who admits they made a mistake than for each of us to step back and consider our own errors in judgement. And notice right now what judgements you are making about me and what I'm saying.
Of course I don't condone racism or any other form of abuse towards anyone. Of course I am as guilty as the next person of having, at one time or another, said or done something that is an insult or denigration of someone. I'm just as human as Paula Deen. The difference is that her celebrity status makes her more vulnerable to public admonishments.
Is she truly sorry? I'm not a follower so I don't have any insight into what she portrays in the public realm. I can only imagine what she feels but I know that every single one of us has something we regret and would take back if only we could. And please let me be clear. Every single one of us has the capacity to be racist. It's the foundation of the Shadow Work that I teach - that I believe "whatever we admire or despise in someone else, also lives within us." The messy, ugly, embarrassing, shameful parts of ourselves that we avoid or deny are projected onto other people.
When we pretend to be 'above' the behaviours we dislike in others we set ourselves up for an inevitable, head on collision with the very thing we most resist. Paula Deen will be held up by many as an example of insensitivity and discrimination. Yet, what if we all looked within ourselves and asked the powerful question "How am I like that in my life?"
Maybe we would spend less time making her wrong and more time finding ways to connect with each other. I humbly submit that there is NO place in our world for hurtful criticism and shaming whether it is against a culture, race, religion, sexuality OR someone who admits to a failing with a commitment to change.
Hold your head up Paul Deen. At least you are willing to admit your failures. Rise up - for in the words of Mary Pickford "Failure is not the falling down, but the staying down." You are leading the way for other courageous people to own their stuff too. Someone, somewhere is following your example and telling their story. It may have taken legal action to illicit your omission but nevertheless, once the truth was revealed, you have demonstrated a sincere desire to be authentic.
