I spoke from the lectern for the first time at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco service today! I was asked by Rev. Laura to share what I’ve learned about love, since joining a book reading group she started about two months ago. Here’s what I shared….
I started coming to Reverend Laura’s discussion series on “Love at the Center” at a particularly raw period of my life.
I’m a media literacy educator, and I’ve had the privilege of working for six and a half years for KQED, the PBS and NPR station for the Bay Area. For me, it’s a dream job – supporting the mission to “inspire, inform and engage” my community with the information that they need to thrive. Yes, my colleagues are Big Bird and Jacques Pepin.
But like a humane immigration policy, like education, like the national park service, this administration has targeted public media as another societal good it needs to destroy. So in July, Congress voted to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the entity that provides federal grants to all public media stations around the country, including KQED.
As a result, KQED was forced to eliminate my position, along with 50 or so other jobs at the station. So this Friday was my last day of work.
But I was asked to share with you what I’ve learned about love from the book discussion series. I’ve learned that Unitarian Universalists have an important message when it comes to love. That love is not just a fleeting emotion – it is a powerful force that protects, heals and transforms.
Rev. Abhi Janamanchi wrote that “love is a manifestation of the divine” and that “God is not a distant being orchestrating events from afar, but is present in every act of love, compassion and kindness.”
Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray reminds us that what draws us together isn’t a shared belief, but a desire for community. And not just any community, but “a caring community that enriches our lives, holds us in times of need, and helps us make a difference in the world.”
And I’ve seen that kind of love in action in my life over the past month. So many people from far and wide have reached out to ask how they can help. People have bought me meals, written recommendations, opened up their professional networks to me. A group of laid off KQED employees have banded together to support each other as we look for work. My colleagues threw an office dance party in my honor on Wednesday, where we cried as we rocked out to disco and K-pop tunes.
Honestly I feel buoyed by love and kindness, like hundreds of balloons lifting me up.
So that’s what I’ve learned about love in the past month. That love is more powerful than the bitter dreams of tiny despots.
Oh, and support your local public media station.