It's been a rough week. Personally, I've had a lot to stress about and be anxious about, including work and research and planning a presentation and writing an article for submission to a nationally published journal. On top of that, we have seen two black men shot and killed by police. After that, at would should have been a peaceful, if emotionally charged, protest in Dallas, we witnessed the festering hatred of at least one man, likely more, murder five police officers and two civilians, wounding many others.
What are we to do? Where are we to turn? No matter your views on the issue, you cannot deny that our country is seething with hatred, rage, and violence right now. It's not just us, but if you're an American or living in the US right now, it's probably one of the most relevant examples of a world threatening to tear itself apart. I have shed tears, I have raged against my God, I have tried to make my emotions go away and become a living stone. None of it has made any difference, but has shown me that, even as a young white male, and with all of the privilege that is entailed there, I am hurting. I have been wounded at a spiritual level by this violence, gutted by this hatred, and left to bleed without any real answers. There's definitely more that I can do, and I vow to take steps toward ending this injustice, even if they are small ones.
One thing I want to make absolutely clear is that, as a supporter of Black Lives Matter, I am NOT anti-police. I have friends who are policeman and sheriff deputies. I see these people often, interact with them at work, talk about their families and their struggles. My best friend's brother is highway patrolman, and I would feel her pain if anything ever happened to him in the line of duty. I appreciate everything they do, and I understand that the majority of them are not "rotten apples." But I see an opportunity for change, a chance to challenge the system that, if we haven't directly helped build, we have at the least allowed to continue existing. A system in which it is okay to automatically assume someone fits a certain category based solely on their appearance or the sound of their voice. Officers of the law are NOT the only people that do this. I myself cannot claim to be guiltless of passing such judgments.
But I am still torn, still suffering, and I fear for my friends. My friends of color, my friends who belong to any group minority group, are in danger, and I fear for them. Tonight, on my way home from work (after midnight on a sold-out night....remember when I said work was stressful? haha), I was reflecting on these issues. I was thinking about how much anxiety I have about the situation, and my mind turned to my faith. In recent months, even recent years, I have studied Scripture less and less and tried to develop a more personal, spiritual connection with God (I am, as you may have surmised, Christian). I admit that it started because I was "too busy" to actively take part in Bible studies, because I was always studying for one class or another or joining a new organization. While I long to return to a study of the Scriptures, I am thankful that I have had this chance to see the personal side of my faith, to understand that being a human being and showing love toward others if far more effective than being able to read, recite, and explain a passage from the Bible.
I remembered a song, which I believe is a few years old. It is performed by a Christian Rock artist by the name of Jeremy Camp, and entitled "There Will Be A Day." The moment I got home and started writing this post, I found it on YouTube and have it playing on a loop. The song lifts me up and fills me with hope.
I want all of you, whether you are Christian, another faith, only spiritual, or even atheist, to listen to the song. It is undoubtedly Christian, but there is a message in it, one of hope and joy, that we NEED right now. Listen to it, ignore the Christian references if you want or change them in your mind to suit your beliefs, but LISTEN to the words. Listen to the chorus, and understand this: there IS hope. We CAN change the world, and we CAN eventually change the world for the better. It might not happen in my lifetime, or my children's lifetime, or perhaps my grandchildren's lifetime, but it WILL happen. Stand up for what's right, stand up for your fellow human beings, stand up for inclusion and diversity. Reach out a hand in love to your neighbors, every human being on this planet, and tell them that you love them, that you care for them, that you are there for them. Let them know that they can come to you in times of need, times of hurt and times of joy, times of nothing and times of plenty. Hug them, squeeze them, hold them.
Now, hope is a funny thing. Before this summer, I wouldn't have realized how significant it is and how hard it is to define. I'm working on a project with a UC professor on hope, and trying to understand it from a Pragmatist philosophy. I may get the following a bit wrong, because I'm still internalizing it myself, but the Pragmatist idea of hope is that it is an action. Hope is NOT blind faith or optimism, an naive idea that everything will get better just because it HAS to get better. Instead, hope is the desire to DO SOMETHING to create change. It is planning, acting, even failing. It is learning from failure, getting up and dusting off and finding a different way to achieve your goal. Not blindly, but with reason and planning. THIS is the hope that WE MUST HAVE. We must develop this hope, until it becomes second-nature to us. With this hope, we WILL change the world. I encourage you all to look up some pragmatist writings on hope (they may be a bit lengthy and have some foreign vocabulary, but they are worth it!) and implement it in your lives.
Listen to this song, and understand that we CAN make a day where there will be no more tears, no more pain, and no more fears. We will make a day when the burdens of the world we live in are less, a day in which we recognize in every member of the human species a brother or a sister worthy of our love. A day in which we do not persecute based on faith, or color, or occupation. A day in which we are judged solely by our deeds.
And to my brothers and sisters of color, and my brothers and sisters of every minority group that faces persecution, know this: I STAND WITH YOU. I am here for YOU. Come to me when you are hurting, share your pain with me, and stand with me. I will take your hand and stand with you against anything that comes against you. Do not fear to share how you are feeling. Do not fear to join together, do not fear to forge bonds stronger than family or friendship. Help us to understand your experience, so that we may help you tackle the obstacles in the path to your goal. I see you, I hear you, and I love you.
What are we to do? Where are we to turn? No matter your views on the issue, you cannot deny that our country is seething with hatred, rage, and violence right now. It's not just us, but if you're an American or living in the US right now, it's probably one of the most relevant examples of a world threatening to tear itself apart. I have shed tears, I have raged against my God, I have tried to make my emotions go away and become a living stone. None of it has made any difference, but has shown me that, even as a young white male, and with all of the privilege that is entailed there, I am hurting. I have been wounded at a spiritual level by this violence, gutted by this hatred, and left to bleed without any real answers. There's definitely more that I can do, and I vow to take steps toward ending this injustice, even if they are small ones.
One thing I want to make absolutely clear is that, as a supporter of Black Lives Matter, I am NOT anti-police. I have friends who are policeman and sheriff deputies. I see these people often, interact with them at work, talk about their families and their struggles. My best friend's brother is highway patrolman, and I would feel her pain if anything ever happened to him in the line of duty. I appreciate everything they do, and I understand that the majority of them are not "rotten apples." But I see an opportunity for change, a chance to challenge the system that, if we haven't directly helped build, we have at the least allowed to continue existing. A system in which it is okay to automatically assume someone fits a certain category based solely on their appearance or the sound of their voice. Officers of the law are NOT the only people that do this. I myself cannot claim to be guiltless of passing such judgments.
But I am still torn, still suffering, and I fear for my friends. My friends of color, my friends who belong to any group minority group, are in danger, and I fear for them. Tonight, on my way home from work (after midnight on a sold-out night....remember when I said work was stressful? haha), I was reflecting on these issues. I was thinking about how much anxiety I have about the situation, and my mind turned to my faith. In recent months, even recent years, I have studied Scripture less and less and tried to develop a more personal, spiritual connection with God (I am, as you may have surmised, Christian). I admit that it started because I was "too busy" to actively take part in Bible studies, because I was always studying for one class or another or joining a new organization. While I long to return to a study of the Scriptures, I am thankful that I have had this chance to see the personal side of my faith, to understand that being a human being and showing love toward others if far more effective than being able to read, recite, and explain a passage from the Bible.
I remembered a song, which I believe is a few years old. It is performed by a Christian Rock artist by the name of Jeremy Camp, and entitled "There Will Be A Day." The moment I got home and started writing this post, I found it on YouTube and have it playing on a loop. The song lifts me up and fills me with hope.
I want all of you, whether you are Christian, another faith, only spiritual, or even atheist, to listen to the song. It is undoubtedly Christian, but there is a message in it, one of hope and joy, that we NEED right now. Listen to it, ignore the Christian references if you want or change them in your mind to suit your beliefs, but LISTEN to the words. Listen to the chorus, and understand this: there IS hope. We CAN change the world, and we CAN eventually change the world for the better. It might not happen in my lifetime, or my children's lifetime, or perhaps my grandchildren's lifetime, but it WILL happen. Stand up for what's right, stand up for your fellow human beings, stand up for inclusion and diversity. Reach out a hand in love to your neighbors, every human being on this planet, and tell them that you love them, that you care for them, that you are there for them. Let them know that they can come to you in times of need, times of hurt and times of joy, times of nothing and times of plenty. Hug them, squeeze them, hold them.
Now, hope is a funny thing. Before this summer, I wouldn't have realized how significant it is and how hard it is to define. I'm working on a project with a UC professor on hope, and trying to understand it from a Pragmatist philosophy. I may get the following a bit wrong, because I'm still internalizing it myself, but the Pragmatist idea of hope is that it is an action. Hope is NOT blind faith or optimism, an naive idea that everything will get better just because it HAS to get better. Instead, hope is the desire to DO SOMETHING to create change. It is planning, acting, even failing. It is learning from failure, getting up and dusting off and finding a different way to achieve your goal. Not blindly, but with reason and planning. THIS is the hope that WE MUST HAVE. We must develop this hope, until it becomes second-nature to us. With this hope, we WILL change the world. I encourage you all to look up some pragmatist writings on hope (they may be a bit lengthy and have some foreign vocabulary, but they are worth it!) and implement it in your lives.
Listen to this song, and understand that we CAN make a day where there will be no more tears, no more pain, and no more fears. We will make a day when the burdens of the world we live in are less, a day in which we recognize in every member of the human species a brother or a sister worthy of our love. A day in which we do not persecute based on faith, or color, or occupation. A day in which we are judged solely by our deeds.
And to my brothers and sisters of color, and my brothers and sisters of every minority group that faces persecution, know this: I STAND WITH YOU. I am here for YOU. Come to me when you are hurting, share your pain with me, and stand with me. I will take your hand and stand with you against anything that comes against you. Do not fear to share how you are feeling. Do not fear to join together, do not fear to forge bonds stronger than family or friendship. Help us to understand your experience, so that we may help you tackle the obstacles in the path to your goal. I see you, I hear you, and I love you.