Pray, yes. And protest.
Feeling not defeated but certainly with a sense that they are meaner than we are nice. Their callousness seems to be winning the day. Our hopes, prayers and protests seem to be falling short. And so it seems.
Still finding joy in the natural beauty of life. Yet, it is challenging to gather the strength to counter the prevailing evil storm we are living through.
- Gaza’s death count of children continues to rise.
- Food meant to feed Africa is incinerated.
- Foreign camps to hold migrants in far-away places are overflowing.
- Kiev continues to be bombarded by drones.
And in the US?
- The government is building detention centers – in the US – where men are held in shackles, forced to eat like dogs with their hands tied behind their backs from plates placed on the ground. (One site being considered was last used to intern Japanese Americans during WWII).
- Due process is a thing of the past as men continue to be sent to foreign gulags.
- Citizens are being threatened to have their citizenship taken away if they complain too loudly. (And, if you are a naturalized citizen – like many of us: Beware. Be very aware).
- The uber rich are getting a tax break at the expense of social programs to feed the poor and fund Medicaid.
- Academia is being coerced into submission by lawsuits.
- The media is being silenced unless they join the propaganda machine.
And what dominates the headlines in the good ol’ USA?
- The President slow walking the release of files that may implicate him in his relationship with a pedophile gangster.
- The President deflecting news by resurfacing a debunked conspiracy theory – debunked by his own first Administration – that a past president tried to illegally keep him from winning.
- The President mandating Coca Cola to put real sugar in Coke.
- The President dictating that Washington DC and Cleveland change the name of their sports team.
- The President causing a nighttime comedian to be fired.
The President rules the airways, sets the news cycle, defines what we talk about. And he certainly does not want to talk about the atrocities (genocide?) in Gaza, Putin playing him, or the cuts to Medicaid he has conveniently delayed till 2028.
The President. The President. The President. It’s all about the President. It is all about him. Yet we know he is full of himself, commanding attention and directing the conversations like a mad orchestra director.
In the meantime friends, family, and conventional wisdom tell us “let it go; get a grip; stop following the news; live life; live the moment; amuse yourself; watch sports, tv, and movies; take care of the house, the garden, the car; plan a vacation; enjoy retirement; etc., etc., etc.”
Maybe. All of that is good and necessary. And yes, I am doing it 🙂
But. No, not but. And.
And I could not live with myself if I withdrew into a self-absorbed existence that is focused exclusively on me. Me without caring for others is not me. Me without thinking of others is not me. Me without taking action with others is not me. Me without accompanying others is not me.
For God is in others – not just me. Focusing only on me is shallow, insufficient – and convenient theology.
Indeed, focusing only on me – in theological terms, seeking only my salvation – is a selfish, self-centered way to live. (Oops. Is saying that heretical?) Doing everything with the ‘eyes on the prize of personal salvation in getting to heaven’ is not how I want to live my old age.
I seek to be compassionate, empathetic, loving, and caring not because it will get me saved, but because it is what we are created to do – or better yet, what we are created to be. It is about doing my part to make happen ‘thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven’.
Charity, rituals, prayers, meditation, and contemplation are indispensable practices to strengthen my true self, my inner self. But, if I stop there it remains short-sighted and incomplete. Lest I engage in relationships with those who are willing, accompany those in the margins, and collaborate to change systems of oppression and destruction – lest I grow in these actions – all the charity, rituals, prayers, meditation, and contemplation will be for naught.
It is not either / or. It is both / and.
So I pray – and protest.