justice for all

… we are each impacted by the circumstances that impact those around us.  What hurts you hurts me.  What heals you heals me.  What cause you joy causes me to rejoice, and what makes you sad also causes me to weep.        

          Jacqui Lewis

_______________________

 

we are getting it wrong

conservatives and liberals

Democrats and Republicans

Christians and Jews, and Muslims, and everyone else too

 

we are getting it wrong

because quite simply, we have stopped seeing each other

 

Jacqui Lewis, in her book fierce love talks about the Zulu tribe in Africa

 

“When they greet each other” she writes, “they offer this greeting.  Sawubona, which means ‘I see you.’  And the response is Sikhona, which means ‘I exist.’

 

But we don’t see each other

We don’t see the person in front of us

We deny, in a real way that they,

With their thoughts and feelings

With their joy and pain

Exist

 

In the New York Times this week an article explored why,

in liberal strongholds, liberal candidates are doing poorly

 

to distill the article down to its heart

the problem is that liberals are focused on ideological purity

and, to quote the article “on projecting symbols of virtuousness while ignoring the needs of families. “

 

As one person, a woman who put together a recall of school board members in San Francisco noted, “Covid was akin to an earthquake that forced people to move into tents on the sidewalk… “Finally, your elected leaders show up and you’re like, ‘Thank God, here’s some help,’”…“And they say, ‘We are here to help. We’re going to change the street signs for you.’”

 

I get the fierce desire for justice, especially racial justice

that burns in the heart of the left,

 

as much, even more, than I understand the fear of change on the right.

 

but what seems like a truth

is that our ideology, perhaps sometimes our theology

blinds us

 

to people

 

to the point that we stumble along

left and right

doing ideologically driven things that hurt and harm, in some cases

or simply fail to help, in others

 

So on one end of the spectrum we see voter suppression, where the

Need of people to have a voice is ignored,

 

And on the other end we see schools renamed

while the pain of children and parents

are casually dismissed

 

we are all, in one way or another

ignoring the basic needs of people who are hurting

 

I am conflicted about all of this

Because I know symbols such as school names and statues are

in fact important

 

but I also know we have to hear and see and feel the pain

of ALL people

 

how do we do justice to the pain of all while

needing to do justice to the pain of some?

 

that is the question

 

and I have no answer

except to say

that as I hold, fiercely my beliefs

about God, and justice, and equity

 

I need to see those around me

all those around me

even those I might disagree with, fiercely

 

I need to see them so clearly that what hurts them hurts me. 

What heals them heals me. 

what makes them sad also causes me to weep

 

but do so in a way that does not cause me to

abandon my fight for justice

 

fierce love

is not for the faint of heart