Are We Willing To Do What It Takes To Make The World We Want?

Driving to my local bakery today, I saw a few homeless people waiting at the steps of a church, waiting for the free dinner they provide. It would be hours until dinner would be served, but there are only so many seats available, so best not be late. Later, while walking my dog, I strolled past my wife’s church and noticed they had many bags of knitted hats and gloves twist-tied to their fence. On each bag were the words “I am not lost or forgotten. Neither are you. Please take me to keep yourself warm.”

I’m saddened to see such need in my little community, comforted only slightly by the evidence that people are caring for one another. At the same time, I think of the parable of the sower, and I am reminded that good intentions do not necessarily yield good results:

“The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

I am reminded also of a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement, when the people of the nation were forced to come face to face with the violence inherent in the racism in the South. For whatever reason, it was decided to show on national television the violence being done against peaceful protestors. America watched as police dogs and fire hoses were used against African Americans fighting for equal rights. This was a historical moment in the Civil Rights Movement. People were so sickened by what they had seen that those with power were forced to change laws and practices.

I remember, too, hearing Martin Luther King expressing his disappointment in retrospect at the way the support of the general public drifted away after this momentous victory. He had witnessed this moment and hoped it had been something more than it was. He permitted himself to hope, and it is never wrong to hope, that this victory was due to the genuine opening of hearts and minds. He had permitted himself to believe that it was the heartrending example of the faith, conviction, sacrifice, and soulful beauty of those marching for equality that had made the difference, and not a disgust at the inhumanity that was exhibited by authority.

There is a great difference between recognizing the injustice done by those with power and recognizing the humanity of those without. The former has one looking through the eyes of authority and finding it wanting. The latter has one looking into the soul of those without power and seeing within them the agents of love. This had been the lesson I think King had hoped people had learned, the shining example of dignity, faith, non-violence and spirituality. This was the lesson King needed society to learn if he was to successfully push on in his mission. Instead, it was a lesser lesson learned, a lesson not of love but of justice. It was the difference between man’s law and God’s law, and for King, it meant all the difference in the world. The people were not willing to follow as far as he was willing to lead.

The average person tends to see such victories as important, while someone of Dr. Kings stature sees them as toeing the line without crossing over into a new world. There is a fundamental barrier that needs to be obliterated if we as human beings are ever going to make the kind of change we need to make. If we are to be the kind of species capable of surviving its own lesser angels. Anything less will not endure, but will slide backwards when lofty examples fade from memory.

I look upon the decline of living standards in our nation and the necessity of recognizing the suffering that is going on, where once we were able to look away and distance ourselves from it. Such recognition requires some sort of response, and I witnessed some of that today. The question is, what kind of response will it be? Will it be the kind of response that merely demands of us to see ourselves as better than we currently are? Or will it be the kind of response that finally allows us to see others as more than we’ve previously allowed ourselves to see? Can we see God, can we see ourselves, in those who lack what we have? Are we able to go further than what mere duty or justice calls for in order to experience what love might encourage us to do?

I fear we have seen the best of what a world based on justice and duty and obedience to authority can give us. Ahead, I see the imperfections of a world driven by such values being exposed. It is hard to contemplate leaving behind the only world we’ve ever known, but ahead of us lies something we’ve always contemplated in our better moments, a beauty and a joy that has always led us forward. Even as we embraced the more primitive paradigms that have shaped our communities and societies, we have always carried with us the vision of a world where love triumphed not merely over hate but over all lesser motivations. The most cynical of us have seen glimpses of it. The masses have warm, fuzzy feelings about such a future we are destined towards. Many have dedicated their lives for it. A precious few have willingly sacrificed their lives for it.

Each of us must ask ourselves if we are ready to cross that line. Not whether society as a whole is about to cross it but whether we ourselves feel ready. We each must step over that line by ourselves, but we are marching together.