The internet is ablaze with sound and fury.  In fact, I had to shut off my phone last night because it wouldn't stop buzzing from all of the Facebook and Twitter notifications that I was receiving.  Apparently, some crazy stuff happened in Washington DC over the weekend.

The short version is that a group of students from Covington, KY were standing on the steps outside of the Lincoln Memorial.  The kids had just finished attending the March for Life, and some of them were wearing MAGA hats.  At some point, they got into a shouting match with Black Hebrew Israelites who were standing nearby, which led to the students engaging in a school chant.

In the midst of all this, a Native American elder who was in DC for the Indigenous People's March walked into the crowd, began beating his drum, and chanting a sacred song.  The kids responded by continuing their chants.

A short video was released of the incident.  Then several longer videos were released that provided more details as to the chain of events.  As a result, the last few days have been a weird mix of people blaming the kids, apologizing for blaming the kids, venerating the Native American elder, saying that the elder is partially to blame and debating the historical accuracy of Black Hebrew Israelites.

(sighs)

I have a lot of strong opinions about this incident and the issues involved.  I have opinions about the pro-life movement, MAGA hats, indigenous rights, and the complete lack of respect our country has for its elders.  But I'm not going to share any of those opinions in this post.

I'm not going to share them because nearly 72 hours after this altercation happened my phone is STILL buzzing with notifications from people who want to get the last word in.

In my experience, if one finds himself in a room filled with screaming people, it's best to be the one person who's silent.  At the very least, it keeps a bad situation from becoming worse.  So, I apologize if anyone clicked this article hoping to feed their rage-addiction, but I'm not throwing more fuel on the fire.

Instead, I'm going to discuss the Buddhist teaching of Right Speech, and how it can help us in times like this.

On the surface, the teaching of right speech is simple.  I've heard it explained as, "Be polite, and don't start trouble."  That's a good start, but the teaching actually goes much deeper than that.  When Buddhists practice Right Speech, we strive to ensure that our words fall into 1 of 2 categories:

1. They actively remove suffering from the world (compassionate-action)
2. They actively add joy and contentment to the world (loving-kindness)

Compassionate-Action and loving-kindness are 2 of the 4 awakened mindstates that Buddhism encourages us to develop.  The other 2 are sympathetic-joy and equanimity.  The teaching of right speech states that as long as our words fall under either compassionate-action or loving-kindness, then they'll naturally lead us and the people around us to experience sympathetic joy and/or equanimity.

For example, I was at dinner with my family the other night when I found out my nephew had a really good report card (5 As and 1 B).  He's very smart, and his report cards are always good, but I wanted him to know that I appreciate his hard work.  

So, I waited until everyone was gathered around, and then I made a point of telling him (loudly) how proud I was of him (loving-kindness).  He responded by smiling ear to ear.  His happiness made me and the rest of the family happy, and a teacher who happened to be sitting nearby came over to congratulate him as well (sympathetic-joy).  Finally, at various points during the day when I felt bothered by what happened in Washington DC thinking about my smart, happy nephew calmed me down (equanimity).

There are two things that we can take from this example.  First, the awakened mindstates feed into each other, so developing one helps us to develop the others.  

Second, right speech isn't just about using kind words.  It's about actively using our words to create healthy mindstates in ourselves and others.

In other words, if we're feeling scared, angry, anxious, confused, etc. because of what happened in Washington DC, one Buddhist method for dealing with those emotions would be to speak words of compassion and loving-kindness to others.  Speaking from experience, the more we engage in right speech, the better we feel.

So, coming back to my original point.  I have a lot of opinions on what happened in DC.  I have even more opinions on what I've read/ watched on social media.  But the only thing I'm going to say is this:

May everyone be happy

May everyone be healthy

May everyone be safe

I love you

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Right Speech and Teenagers in MAGA Hats