just mercy

Proximity has taught me some basic and humbling truths, including this vital lesson: Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. My work with the poor and the incarcerated has persuaded me that the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice. Finally, I’ve come to believe that the true measure of our commitment to justice, the character of our society, our commitment to the rule of law, fairness, and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the powerful, the privileged, and the respected among us. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.

                               Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy

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I have opinions

I speak them

 

I am a therapist, sometimes I am called to shine the light

on difficult things

 

I am a preacher / poet / prophet

and I have no choice

but to speak out against hate, and greed and abusive power

 

I have learned the hard way

that in all of my roles

which, frankly, are roles endowed with a certain degree of power

 

I must have humility

 

In the midst of my certitude

(did I mention I was opinionated?)

I have to remember that I “might be wrong”

and all too often have been

 

mea culpa

mea maxima culpa

 

I must also have generosity of spirit

I must be one who looks beyond

the words, the attitudes, even the actions

that dismay me

to something deeper

 

I have sometimes

in my dealings with others

as a relationship has gone sour and I have been accused

of being a less than stellar person,

 

thought to myself

“I thought they knew me better than that”

 

I have thought back to kindnesses rendered

forgiveness offered

help given

 

I have thought back to times I have played with this person

prayed with this person

worshipped with this person

served with this person

studied with this person

 

and have been saddened that they could not see beyond

beyond a political stance

beyond, perhaps, regrettable words or actions

to my heart

 

but as I think about those times it occurs to me

that I too fail to see beyond

I too fail to remember

That “each of us is more than the worst thing we have every done”

 

and that this is true not of just the mildly objectionable

but is true of those we most despise

 

if I were to ask God for a superpower

I know what it would be

 

I would ask God for x-ray vision

for the ability to look beyond, behind, beneath

 

for the ability to penetrate all the surface stuff

to the deepest parts of a person

to that place where Sacred dwells

 

so that I could see that part of them

that is still a Sacred Child

 

that part that still loves

still hopes

still gives

still has compassion

 

because I have to believe it is there

I know it is there

 

and I know

that if I could see that holy child

I could never again treat them with disdain

never again abandon them to poverty

never again minimize or marginalize them

 

I could only treat them with equity and justice

compassion and generosity

I could only love them