Sometimes I wonder if the biggest lesson to be learned from history is that we never learn the lessons of history.....
I have been settled here in the silences. This is not because I don’t care. I do care, care deeply. I honestly do not want to live in a world where something as meaningless as the color of one’s skin makes one a target. I do not want to live in a world where fear and hate rule the day. Honestly, I don’t believe anyone wants to live in such a world. I think we all simply want to love and be loved and to find something meaningful to do with our time on this earth.
And yet here I am. Here we are.
I watch in horror. I watch in hope. I watch beautifully outraged noise. I see violence: violence stemming from hatred; violence stemming from fear; violence stemming from the safety of power; violence stemming from oppression; violence stemming from despair. Violence is not only physical; violence arises out of our words, our thoughts, our refusal to show compassion.
But I also see hope. I see and hear voices of refusal, of non-acceptance. I see people feeding others. I see people arm in arm, masked out of compassion not fear — people standing for love. I see people standing together in shared outrage against oppression.
Violence and hope. Hope and violence. It seems there has been a lot of both of these in the world right now.
I don’t want to live in a world filled with riots, with protests, with strife, a world of fear and hatred and denial. And yet these are only the symptoms of a greater disease, a greater evil, one that most of us never think about, never asked for. I never wanted to live in a police state. I cannot bear to watch the news. History shows us that most people never ask to live in oppression, never ask for dictatorships, or police states. But I also see that, much as I never asked for this world, I have also been remiss in challenging the assumptions that created it. I am angry, saddened, appalled.
There is no neutrality in a life of humanity. Apathy is and of itself a form of violence, and a deceptive one at that. Apathy puts of a false front of calmness, but it actually does more than that, it colludes and allows hate, fear, oppression and violence to grow unfettered.
We are a cautious species, but also a daring one. I cannot deny that humans are driven by conflicting web of complex emotions: by fear, by a need for security, by creativity, by faith, by love. None of these things are passive. We choose. WE CHOOSE.
A song from South Pacific has been making the rounds, a bit of a resurgence of optimism, “You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught”. It reminds us that fear, hatred, racism are drummed into us, often in subtle ways. But I can’t help but wonder if it is also only part of the story. We also have to be carefully taught to love, to care, to nurture. Yes, it comes naturally, but so does fear. We also have to be guided, “To Be Carefully Taught” how to overcome our own fears, how to vanquish selfishness and darkness, how caring is actually the stronger choice. We have to be taught that strength, true strength, is not about beating others down, either physically, financially, or emotionally. Strength is not about bullying. Strength is not about having more but about being more compassionate and caring.
I choose kindness and beauty. I don’t know where that choice will take me, where your choices will take you. But I hope for the future. I hope the next generations can overcome the selfishness and apathy of my own generation. I hope we can find the strength of caring, the care that is implicit in the word humanity.
