I tire of them both. As usual, the answer to it all lies in between.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Believe It Or Not
It becomes clear that a great schism wracks human society with spasms of outlandish idiocy, foments titanic battles between groups of otherwise normal people, and leaves the foul stench of hypocrisy lingering on the breeze, like the wisps of Winter wood smoke. On one side, the fervent religious believers, who take their scripture to heart, using the very words to conjure up visions of how secular society will doom humanity to an ignominious fate. On the other, the rationalists, believers in unbelief, clad in the armor of science and pointedly against anything that even hints of human invention, determined to expose the machinations of religious zealotry in committing us all to a hideous fate.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Stop. Listen. Think.
On this day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the will be many an unfortunate attempt to turn Dr. King into something or someone he is not, or to claim a reading of his legacy as reality where it it lies far from actual fact. This is nothing new; it is an extension of the need of some in this society -- read, Caucasians -- to put their imprimatur on something.
While I, as a Caucasian male, may strive to interpret Reverend King's dream in terms that match my world view, and take from his words the motivation to create the world he envisaged, it is beyond my purview to interpret the events and happenstance of his life beyond my limited understanding of it. I was not a black person living under the thumb of Jim Crow laws in the South of the 1950' and 1960's. I was not subject to depredation and degradation of white Americans seeking to enforce an ignorant and bigoted view of the world. I certainly did not have to fear for my life simply walking down a street or staying at a motel.
Flash forward to the 21st Century and I still have no reason to fear. My privilege -- though I am not desirous of it nor wish to be party it -- still shields me, for fifty years is not enough time for centuries of inequity to be so simply erased, even by the powerful and righteous words of one black man. Though I strive to treat others as the human beings they are, though I work to eliminate the prejudices that society has attempted to build into me, though I try and live my life as an honest a decent man, I am no more subject to the vicissitudes of my race than any before me. I may live in poverty, I may lose my job, I may be required to make sacrifices to keep my family safe and warm, but no matter how badly my life may go, I will not have the added burden of fighting against stereotypical and bigoted behavior.
As such, while I may promote and hope to encourage the vision of a world that Dr. King revealed to me and others through his actions and words, I have no greater claim to know exactly what he went through to reach the point of that vision, nor can I truly understand the forces that shaped that vision for him. I cannot and should not assume that I can read the history of black Americans at that time and be able to fully commiserate with them in their misery and fear, no matter how palpable it may feel to me.
The legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. is not in the events themselves, but what caused the events to come to be and how the man responded to them, and how he encouraged others to respond to them. If I wish to be true to his legacy, it us up to me not to impose my will upon it, but to stop, listen, and learn. In that way, I can do my part to bring Dr. King's dream to fruition.
While I, as a Caucasian male, may strive to interpret Reverend King's dream in terms that match my world view, and take from his words the motivation to create the world he envisaged, it is beyond my purview to interpret the events and happenstance of his life beyond my limited understanding of it. I was not a black person living under the thumb of Jim Crow laws in the South of the 1950' and 1960's. I was not subject to depredation and degradation of white Americans seeking to enforce an ignorant and bigoted view of the world. I certainly did not have to fear for my life simply walking down a street or staying at a motel.
Flash forward to the 21st Century and I still have no reason to fear. My privilege -- though I am not desirous of it nor wish to be party it -- still shields me, for fifty years is not enough time for centuries of inequity to be so simply erased, even by the powerful and righteous words of one black man. Though I strive to treat others as the human beings they are, though I work to eliminate the prejudices that society has attempted to build into me, though I try and live my life as an honest a decent man, I am no more subject to the vicissitudes of my race than any before me. I may live in poverty, I may lose my job, I may be required to make sacrifices to keep my family safe and warm, but no matter how badly my life may go, I will not have the added burden of fighting against stereotypical and bigoted behavior.
As such, while I may promote and hope to encourage the vision of a world that Dr. King revealed to me and others through his actions and words, I have no greater claim to know exactly what he went through to reach the point of that vision, nor can I truly understand the forces that shaped that vision for him. I cannot and should not assume that I can read the history of black Americans at that time and be able to fully commiserate with them in their misery and fear, no matter how palpable it may feel to me.
The legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. is not in the events themselves, but what caused the events to come to be and how the man responded to them, and how he encouraged others to respond to them. If I wish to be true to his legacy, it us up to me not to impose my will upon it, but to stop, listen, and learn. In that way, I can do my part to bring Dr. King's dream to fruition.
Dream Catcher
There are no more words to adequately express the meaning of the life and death of Martin Luther King, Jr., beyond the billions already spoken by far greater luminaries than I. This man, this sweet, kind, gentle, fiery soul, has been at once enlarged and mitigated by the run of years from his heyday. A holiday bears his name, America's soul bears witness to his touch, but American society has not quite caught up with his dream. That a black man sits in the highest office in the land is not an accomplishment, but a step, one plodding footfall toward a higher and holier world that this black Southern preacher saw from his vantage point on the mountain top.
While he may continue to be lauded -- or reviled -- even to this day, it is not the man but his dream that should interest us more, for his revelation to us of his vision, a day when no person would be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character, was just that: a dream. It was not a fully-formed thing sprung deep from within the recesses of a man's heart and soul, but a tapestry of the wishes and hopes and prayers of millions, woven into a transformative vision by this man's conviction and his belief in God. It was a thing built of the words and actions and history of the people around him, absorbed by every touch of a hand or every earnest conversation or every horrific scene of racial intolerance. The man took those skeins of human misery and hope and knit them into panoramic tableau, then shared it with us all, and we recognized ourselves in it even as his words spilled into the air.
It might be too much to ask that everyone who has heard his words has been so moved as to be changed at heart. In the pits of some, the darkness is too deep, and even the stirring words of a Martin Luther King, Jr. bring scant illumination. Many of us, however, have been transformed. We seek that world he showed us, a world where our humanity counts for more than the skin we were born with, the faith we were raised with, the gender we follow, or any of the myriad differences we impose on others. Having caught the dream is not the same as creating it, though; the vision outstrips reality, where no matter how delightful and empowering and righteous it seems, not all share our enthusiasm for its establishment.
On this day, let us remember the man who placed the hope for a more peaceful and just world at our feet, by doing what is necessary to pick up that hope, make it our own, and carry it forward. Though the man is no longer here to help carry the burden, may his spirit enrich us and help us to shoulder the load.
While he may continue to be lauded -- or reviled -- even to this day, it is not the man but his dream that should interest us more, for his revelation to us of his vision, a day when no person would be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character, was just that: a dream. It was not a fully-formed thing sprung deep from within the recesses of a man's heart and soul, but a tapestry of the wishes and hopes and prayers of millions, woven into a transformative vision by this man's conviction and his belief in God. It was a thing built of the words and actions and history of the people around him, absorbed by every touch of a hand or every earnest conversation or every horrific scene of racial intolerance. The man took those skeins of human misery and hope and knit them into panoramic tableau, then shared it with us all, and we recognized ourselves in it even as his words spilled into the air.
It might be too much to ask that everyone who has heard his words has been so moved as to be changed at heart. In the pits of some, the darkness is too deep, and even the stirring words of a Martin Luther King, Jr. bring scant illumination. Many of us, however, have been transformed. We seek that world he showed us, a world where our humanity counts for more than the skin we were born with, the faith we were raised with, the gender we follow, or any of the myriad differences we impose on others. Having caught the dream is not the same as creating it, though; the vision outstrips reality, where no matter how delightful and empowering and righteous it seems, not all share our enthusiasm for its establishment.
On this day, let us remember the man who placed the hope for a more peaceful and just world at our feet, by doing what is necessary to pick up that hope, make it our own, and carry it forward. Though the man is no longer here to help carry the burden, may his spirit enrich us and help us to shoulder the load.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Losing Your Religion
Her name is Jessica Ahlquist, she is 16-year-old, lives and goes to school in Cranston, Rhode Island, and is one of the braver people you will meet. Why? Because she dared to stand up and demand that the First Amendment be respected in her school.
The problem: a banner, hanging in Cranston High School West since 1963, which starts with the words “Our Heavenly Father” and concludes with the word, “Amen,” and is headed with the phrase “School Prayer.”
Ms. Ahlquist took exception to such a blatant Christian display in her school. She sued the school. And on January 11th, 2012, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux ruled in her favor, in a detailed ruling which outlined the genesis and the course of the banner and the subsequent public squabble over it. In the end, Justice Lagueux made it clear that the whole history of events pointed to a clear and distinct attempt to use Christian religion in a public school in a manner inconsistent with the First Amendment prohibition against government establish or endorsing a religion.
Perhaps it goes without saying, those of Christian faith have been less than charitable in their disagreement.
The problem: a banner, hanging in Cranston High School West since 1963, which starts with the words “Our Heavenly Father” and concludes with the word, “Amen,” and is headed with the phrase “School Prayer.”
Ms. Ahlquist took exception to such a blatant Christian display in her school. She sued the school. And on January 11th, 2012, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux ruled in her favor, in a detailed ruling which outlined the genesis and the course of the banner and the subsequent public squabble over it. In the end, Justice Lagueux made it clear that the whole history of events pointed to a clear and distinct attempt to use Christian religion in a public school in a manner inconsistent with the First Amendment prohibition against government establish or endorsing a religion.
Perhaps it goes without saying, those of Christian faith have been less than charitable in their disagreement.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
The Unbearable Continuation Of Bigotry
Her name is -- as far as we know -- Taylor. She is -- apparently -- a Girl Scout. She is fourteen-years-old and is apparently concerned by the direction the Girl Scouts of America is taking, specifically with the admission last Autumn of a seven-year-old transgender child to a troop in Colorado. She is calling for a boycott of the sale of Girl Scout cookies, to send a clear message of disapproval over the inclusiveness that the organization is supporting by sanctioning such a move.
She is a bigot.
She is a bigot.
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