Am I Ready?

The answer is simple: “No.” No one is ever ready for the challenge that's right there, to bear witness, to teach, to facilitate council. No one is ever ready to be a parent. The trick – the only trick – is to bring your unreadiness to the table, to bring your openness to learning. Not being ready is no reason not to step forward. The only real obstacle is thinking that you are ready, “I got this one.”

A bearing witness council rests in the intent to bring into the circle those who have been excluded. We are committing to being with those we’ve been othering and who very likely have been othering us, to listening and speaking from the heart. If you’re sure you’re right and the others are wrong, then no, you’re not ready, but if you’re ready to say, “I’ve come to learn,” to learn from those with whom you strongly disagree, then you are ready to take the plunge. Can you be sure that you’re ready?  

Facilitation would be easy if all that ever arose in council was loving kindness, in my heart and in yours. But what if pain and grief and anger are in your heart, do you have the courage to share that? What if pain and grief and anger are in another’s heart, do you have the courage to listen? As you listen to the other, what comes up in your heart? Can you share that? If we’re honest, all any of us can say is “don’t know.”

So how can any of us “facilitate” a bearing witness council if we’re not sure that we’re ready? I’ve learned that I can often rely on the council. When I’m speechless, there’s a good chance that someone else, speaking from the heart, will right the ship when I lose my way, or that we’ll stumble together and eventually I will find the words arising from my heart.

And, then too, there’s disappointment in life. Not every peacemaking effort succeeds. To venture into peacemaking, to step into life, is to be prepared for failure and to go anyway. That's life.