Long Walks On Leafy Streets

4/30/2017 Beach Drive, Rock Creek Park, Washington, DC
Yesterday I participated in the People’s Climate March here in Washington, DC. I had participated in the 2014 march in New York City. The day started at the Takoma Metro Station. After cooking lunch I walked over there by 8.15 am. The Washington Mindfulness Community, the meditation group I practice with, had sent out an email asking people to meet there. We were to leave to Union Station together with some monks and nuns from Thich Nhat Hanh’s Order of Interbeing. Our meditation practice is inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh.

It was a bright and sunny morning. Started in the 70s but warmed up quickly as the day wore on. The monks and nuns of the Blue Cliff Monastery arrived around 8.30, led by Mitchell Ratner who leads the Stillwater meditation community in Takoma Park, MD. Since they live secluded from the city life some had trouble with the fare-cards. It reminded me of the time I spent a couple of months in a sort of a retreat by myself in a country home in Pennsylvania.
It was pleasant talking to them and I started feeling peaceful right away. Lately my mind has been relatively more turbulent, consuming more news than it was a couple of months ago. I do think we all need to be aware of and be outraged by what is going on, but I also think it is important not to be consumed by it. So I was happy that I was walking with the monks and learning to be more peaceful.

From Union Station we walked to the Upper Senate Park to meet with others from the mindfulness community. The One Earth Sangha had arranged for many of the Buddhist groups of the area to join together. There were some good speeches. The point that stood up was that in these days of immoral actions not just against minorities, the poor and Muslims but also against the environment, it is the members of the faith community, at least the ones that are progressive that are most awake and raising the alarm. I also get newsletters from the Sojourners, a Christian Evangelical group fighting for social justice, and they have been equally outspoken.

After the speech we walked to the main marching route and aligned ourselves next to other faith based groups. We did some meditation and singing. It took a long time for the march to get started and it happened around 1pm. In the meantime it had gotten quite hot and humid. The roadside vendors were doing a brisk business selling cold drinks and snacks. I bought myself an ice-cream cookie sandwich and some peanut butter crackers from the nearest vendor. My plan was to stay with the march until 3pm and then run home from the mall, a distance of about 8 miles. I hadn’t had much to eat before leaving home, and this sugary, fatty snack turned out to be a good idea even though at that time I had difficulty eating it.

We started walking in a group but soon people seemed to get dispersed in the crowd. I tried to stay with the mindful walkers as much as possible. Around us there were some who were loud and had angry signs with them. I think it was good that there were many who were marching more peacefully, with their signs more polite and showing only concern for the environment. I had to remind myself to stay peaceful and not get caught up in the crowd’s energy. I believe that one has to resist and protest but without anger. The only way we are going to get out of the current situation is the Gandhian way, by bringing people together and appealing to their better angels. This is the point I made in a panel discussion I participated in, at St. Stephen’s Church this Tuesday. It was a part of Earth Week events organized by the DC Science for the People, a group of scientists and educators mostly from Howard University using science for social justice. I will write more about this later.

I also had to fight the urge to keep score by looking at the crowd size. Later I learned that the crowd was about 200,000 people, about half the size of the New York March in 2014. So it is a bit disappointing and feels like a “loss” but one has to focus on the cause and dedicate oneself to the work and not worry about the results. Even though all my life I have tried to follow Krishna’s teaching in the BhagavadGita, “You can only control the action, not the results” often it is easy to forget, especially when the goals are noble. But whether it is working on a difficult mathematics problem or fighting for social justice, one gets the best results only by dedicating selflessly to the cause and respecting the work itself. Otherwise invariably the ego tends to get involved and muddy the picture.

This has been revealed to me in a most concrete way by running. After the march I ran from near the White House to the Rock Creek bike path and then ran along the creek most of the way home. It was 90 degrees with 70 percent humidity. After about two miles I felt like I could not go any further. I kept telling myself to focus on the steps, to enjoy the scenery and not worry about whether I would be able to finish or not. That made it possible for me to run almost 9 miles in that oppressive heat. It also removed a lot of negative energy from the mind. After a run one always feel more relaxed and happy but yesterday it was especially so. Never have I enjoyed simply walking on a street so much.

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