Beginning with the Civil Rights Movement and right on through second-wave feminism, passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act, and the Supreme Court’s ruling on gay marriage, I have witnessed, and supported, many changes for the better in this country.
Yes, there have been setbacks and disappointments. Still, I have had reason to hope that these words from Martin Luther King, Jr. were true: The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
For a long time, I have had an image of people of goodwill hanging from the arc, lending their weight to its bending. Sometimes it has felt as if the arc were straightening, bending away from justice, but always I have believed that the power of those working for justice would continue to bend the arc, inch-by-inch, toward justice and fairness.
Now, it seems that people of ill will are deploying a bomb (paid for by the richest man in the world) to blow up the arc, sending flying those of us who have been hanging on.
To be honest, at this stage of my life, the weight I can lend to the building and the bending is not what it once was, but I am willing to give it my very best.
If only someone can tell me where to start.
Oh, Marjorie, I love the imagery! Yes, where, when and how can we start to pick up the pieces of our shattered world. A bull in a china shop does not do justice to the destruction of these people. And for what purpose? D in Camas
ReplyDeleteNo purpose except chaos and revenge.
DeleteMargie, I don’t understand or like this new world. I have a neurodivergent grandson who is a constant joy but also a worry. If the dept of education is eliminated, will the states be able to give him the excellent education he now receives. And these people don’t care , they just want to destroy. God help America.
ReplyDeleteGod help us all.
DeleteI wonder if it is too soon to be hopeful. We’ve had so much to take in the last two weeks it feels like trauma. I’m hoping as we absorb and digest some of the insanity we will be better able to decide where we can be helpful, and to move forward. Zane
ReplyDeleteAbsorbing and digesting can't be wrong.
DeleteI’m still grieving. If the arc can return I doubt it can be in my lifetime. My small bit of resistance is calls to legislators.
ReplyDeleteIf someone tells you where to start let me know!
ReplyDeleteSmall steps and local actions are all I can think of.
DeleteIt is never too soon to be hopeful. And we know - as Greta Thunberg reminded us - that hope flows from action. When our grief, our anger, our despair flows from what is actually happening (to ourselves, to those near and dear, to those we do not know but still care about) our sanest response is to recognize, to feel, then to accept what is, now. Then I'm thinking - to say as little as possible about the actors behind unhappy results, because that's a hamster wheel of monstrous proportions. Instead, go hyperlocal: What good can I do here, now? The patriarchy will self-destruct. If we get right in our hearts, it will be easier to pick up the pieces and rebuild a transformed world.
ReplyDeleteLiking the idea of going hyper local
DeleteYes, hyperlocal, even while keeping an eye on the big picture.
DeleteSadly but surely, one of your best.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bonnie. I wish there had been nothing to inspire this post.
DeleteThank you for the reminder of Dr. King’s moral arc. I cannot help but hear “there’s a rainbow in the clouds” in those words, a saying that I associate strongly with African American theologians and with Maya Angelou.This speaks to me about opportunity that is present in every moment, especially every conflicted, difficult, dark, and bitter moment, to bring light. That is what I am putting my faith in now, that those opportunities will be there. That is the only thing that gives me hope right now is to think that I still have my personal will to choose how I conduct myself toward others moment by moment and that such choices will slowly and at length reveal that justice is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. May it be so.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughts, Laura. "Moment by moment" is we've ever had, really. We arecertainly being reminded of that now.
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