The weeks and months of the coronavirus global pandemic had us shelter-in-place and hit pause on the way we lived our lives.  But our bleary-eyed reawakening from lockdown slumber hit a screeching halt when the video of George Floyd being brutally murdered was aired on television sets and smartphone screens all over the world.

We are wide awake now, and through shock, anguish, despair, rage, sadness and tears, we see the opportunity for real CHANGE.  We’re going to take it.  

It’s time to get serious.  Serious about creating the kind of change that will make the world what it can be: just, fair, kind, caring, inclusive, embracing and respectful of all living beings.  No, we will not go back to normal.  Normal wasn’t good enough.  We can do and be better.  We owe it to ourselves & to our children.  We owe it to our sanity.  We owe it to human beings, and to sentient beings of every kind, we owe it to Mother Nature, and we owe it to the planet.

We are going to get serious about flooding the world with love, vision, justice, dignity, moral righteousness, ethical principles, and kindness towards others as well as ourselves.  Now more than ever, we need beauty in the world.  Beauty, in Beauty Remastered terms. 

It’s going to take commitment.  It’s going to take collective energy, focus, & conviction.  It’s going to take love, compassion, empathy, courage.  Our comfort zones will have to be shaken up real good, we’re going to have to venture outside.  Efforts will be met with plenty of resistance from the status quo.  But here’s the bottom line:  the status quo is no longer acceptable, and it is definitely not sustainable.  From the way we’ve become accustomed to thinking and accustomed to living, to the way we’ve allowed much to be decided for us, and to the way we’ve ignored or neglected things we should have paid better attention to, a lot has to change.  Our mission is this:  we’re going to be the beauty and the love and the strength and the conviction and the power and the energy in the world that will generate the kind of change that is so desperately needed. 

We need to become beauty activists as much as social activists.  Beauty is the eye-opener.  Through its lens we see the possibilities and the goodness that are available to us.  Change is possible.  A better world is possible.  Justice, equality, human rights, love and peace are possible.  How committed are we to their cause?

What can we do?  Where do we start?  In this Newsletter we begin with the issue of racism.  In the next few months we will address several other topics such as the environment, girls’ education, and the women’s movement, to name a few. 

For starters, we have to speak out against racism.  There is simply NOTHING that justifies racism.  We can’t pretend it’s not rampant, or that we are not affected by it, even if just as bystanders, even if only by hearing about it, or only by seeing it aired on the evening news and on the internet.  We have to call it out whenever and wherever we see it.  Racism has to be systemically rejected.  We must then atone for our collective past, do some personal inner work, reflect, assume our responsibilities, make reparations where we can.  Reconciliation begins with remorse and forgiveness.  Only from there is true healing possible.

We must also hold our elected officials and our law-enforcement officials accountable.  Policies and mindsets must be revised, reformed.  Call your representatives.  Sign petitions.  March.  Attend peaceful protests and vigils.  Donate to victims’ families’ GoFundMe platforms.  

If we hope to effectuate real change, however, education is key.  The history of racism and its effects on generations of African Americans and black and indigenous people of color (BIPOC) must be learned and studied in schools all over the country.  All over the world!  We need to create a thoughtful, heart-centered, comprehensive, universal program, designed by educators of every race, whereby students are taught the truth, and are encouraged to foster compassion, love, inclusivity.  It shouldn’t be difficult, children are, by their very nature, kind and open-hearted.  Such a program ought to be implemented in schools beginning at the elementary-grade level and taught throughout secondary education.   

But we can educate ourselves even now, by watching documentaries, reading books, listening to Black Lives Matter leaders and civil rights leaders, by following influential BIPOC on social media, by attending online discussions, speaker events, educational programs, artist events, musical events.  So much is being offered online today, and there is so much to learn still, even when we think we know it all already.

By embracing the need and desire for social change, and committing to participation in the creation of a better, more inclusive, more just, and more peaceful world, we become the changemakers the times call for.

~

SUGGESTED READING

I recently read (for the first time, I’m embarrassed to admit), The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action, by Audre Lorde.  
It is a masterful essay.  It is posted  in its entirety on the Beauty Remastered Instagram (see the Instagram icon in the footer, below).  I strongly suggest you take a few minutes to read it, it is not very long.  Just click on the icon to be redirected to the BR Instagram page. Click on the post, and swipe to read the full essay.

You can also download a PDF of the essay here.

There are so many books I am eager to read.  I’m committed to reading the following, between now and the end of this year. 

BELOVED, by Toni Morrison
WE CAN’T BREATHE, by Jabari Asim
UNBOWED, A MEMOIR, by Wangari Maathai
MANIFESTO FOR A MORAL REVOLUTION, by Jacqueline Novogratz
RAGE BECOMES HER, by Soraya Chemaly
UNTAMED, by Glennon Doyle

Many more will follow, in 2021.

**Book Club?  Who’s interested? 

Email me, beautyremastered@gmail.com**

~

I am excited for the revolution of hearts and minds that is taking place.  The awakened soul, with its lucidity and beauty, has the keys to the future ~and we all know, don’t we?, that beauty is indeed what’s going to change the world.  This kind of beauty is the beauty of spirit.  Our beauty narrative is very much a part of this, as well. 

Peace ~

Roberta xx.

re-mas-ter
~
To generate a new, improved version of an
existing element (usually sound or image).
Here, we set out to remaster our beauty construct,
and emerge as the sole masters of our beauty narrative.