I’ll be honest, the moment we’ve been living in the past couple weeks has been a surprise to me. Anyone else?
More so than I’d like to admit, I started feeling like the necessary systematic changes we need to deal with racial injustice were out of reach. I saw how churches and other institutions were very passive in responding to Charlottesville and felt so disappointed in what seemed like low-hanging fruit to me. I was discouraged when even people’s responses to fighting against a non-human VIRUS were more shaped by their political dogma than anything else.
Even now, I remain very CAUTIOUSLY hopeful. But hopeful, still.
After all, it was only a few posts ago that I shared the story of how I prayed to be a dad, only barely believing it would come true while trying. And that shaped my understanding of hope, and my belief that hope isn’t a wish. It’s action.
Hope leads to showing up. Showing up leads to action. Action leads to change.
There is still so much more to do. But I don’t want myself or anyone to go back to an environment of hopelessness and inaction. I’m optimistic, but also concerned, because I know how short the public attention span is. We’ve got to stay this uncomfortable with the following:
• Silence
• The myth of neutrality
• Vague platitudes that don’t name the evil of racism
• All lives matter
• “Both sides” talk
If you don’t quite understand the importance of being uncomfortable with these and sincerely want to learn, let me know. But.
Unless the discomfort of staying the same is greater than the burden of change, nothing happens.
