Human vs. ego

How can I spew cliches about accepting and respecting differences

when I cannot accept and respect my own father?

How can I bemoan and condemn the opposite political party

for their egos and their hatred

when my own ego and hatred

has widened a family chasm?

How can I touch Oneness,

the underlying truth of interconnectedness

and revel in its beauty

without allowing my ego to release its grasp

on separateness

on righteousness

on superiority?

Even now

while writing these words

how can I be proud of myself for being so self-aware?

Thank you,

dad,

for the opportunity to confront this part of me

that wants so badly to be right

this part of me

that is thirsty for blood

while claiming to be the one

who was bitten.

I understand now that circumstance

is our only difference.

I release my attachment to myself as one who was wronged

and I release my attachment to the idea that it was you and your wife who wronged me

and I release my clinging to the idea of how I wanted it all to work out.