In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Martin Luther King Jr.
If you don't experience injustice on a daily basis for either yourself or someone else, you are an oppressor. Those who sense injustice deeply for others without acting are self occupied and unsatisfied.
Consider the life of Martin Luther King Jr. He grew up labelled a colored or worse. He grew up counted as an oppressed person. He was forced to drink from a different fountain than whites. He was forced to go to different schools. But he did not become self occupied and self pitying. Instead, to borrow a phrase from Teddy Rosevelt, he spent himself in worthy causes. It was in seeking justice for others that Martin Luther King overcame his own personal injustice even in his own lifetime. As a matter of fact in his last speech he said this:
"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
He did not get there with his people but rather before them. He climbed the mountain by fighting on behalf of others injustices rather than fighting for his own. In that he became of a giant among men. Is this what is meant by Psalms 58:6-8
6 “No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
and remove the chains that bind people.
7 Share your food with the hungry,
and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
8 “Then your salvation will come like the dawn,
and your wounds will quickly heal.
Your godliness will lead you forward,
and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.
If so then what injustice are you hanging on to? Who will stand to accuse you of being silent when you should have spoken?
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Driving in Reverse
There is this curious spot in the Republic of Georgia where if you put your car in neutral it roles uphill.
In recent years there has been a trend of suburbanites moving back to the city. I was at a party in my inner city community that was attended by many folks who have recently moved back into the city. Many had found the charms of old neighborhoods with wide streets and parks irresistable. Many have found the hope of buying low and selling high exciting. They are young couples mostly from the ages of 25 to 40. In the sixties the trend was the exact opposite.
Many fled the cities to leave for the suburbs. People were excited to experience more solitude. They wanted better schools and less pollution from factories. They wanted to escape from the neighborhoods where the crime rate was rising. When they left their incomes which went to support the neighborhoods they were living in went with them. Schools systems got worse. Crime increased more. Jobs were scarce. Hope went with them to the suburbs and left the inner city to decay.
Unfortunately, there was also a racial dimension to this migrations. Many of the inner cities became poor African American communities. Many of the suburbs became white communities. Now it seems that the car is going back up hill. It doesn't seem to make sense but the same "type" of people who abandonded the city are now returning to it.
The question is...what will history tell of this time? Will it look back to say that once again the white return flight displaced the poor and moved the mariginal to the margins of the cities? One thing that has been a huge surprise to me is that many of those moving back into the cities are of the Christian faith. Many of those low income families living within the city are also of the Christian faith. But it is like the ways they practice their faith don't connect with each other. In fact, it is almost as if they are practing two seperate faith systems.
What if the two groups could find a meeting place and learn to worship and live together?
In recent years there has been a trend of suburbanites moving back to the city. I was at a party in my inner city community that was attended by many folks who have recently moved back into the city. Many had found the charms of old neighborhoods with wide streets and parks irresistable. Many have found the hope of buying low and selling high exciting. They are young couples mostly from the ages of 25 to 40. In the sixties the trend was the exact opposite.
Many fled the cities to leave for the suburbs. People were excited to experience more solitude. They wanted better schools and less pollution from factories. They wanted to escape from the neighborhoods where the crime rate was rising. When they left their incomes which went to support the neighborhoods they were living in went with them. Schools systems got worse. Crime increased more. Jobs were scarce. Hope went with them to the suburbs and left the inner city to decay.
Unfortunately, there was also a racial dimension to this migrations. Many of the inner cities became poor African American communities. Many of the suburbs became white communities. Now it seems that the car is going back up hill. It doesn't seem to make sense but the same "type" of people who abandonded the city are now returning to it.
The question is...what will history tell of this time? Will it look back to say that once again the white return flight displaced the poor and moved the mariginal to the margins of the cities? One thing that has been a huge surprise to me is that many of those moving back into the cities are of the Christian faith. Many of those low income families living within the city are also of the Christian faith. But it is like the ways they practice their faith don't connect with each other. In fact, it is almost as if they are practing two seperate faith systems.
What if the two groups could find a meeting place and learn to worship and live together?
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The Return of the Jedi
I chose this Title because Star Wars is a set of movies that just wnen you thought they were gone they came out with a whole new series. I realize that I haven't written on this blog in quite a while. Its been just under two years in fact. These two years have helped me discover quite a bit about life. I have learned things about myself. I've learned things about others. And I think I've become a deeper person over this time. So today I just felt like writing. I felt like saying something. I didn't feel like being clever or creative just expressing myself. When I write I feel like I am touching a deeper part of myself. That I am communicating with people something that until I begin to type remains only a feeling. At times when I write and I want to express something I have to really focus and then the sentence just comes forward. And then the Thesis just writes itself. It isn't that I have to come up with something to write as much as I have to get inside and find that something that is already written within. It is that clarity that makes writing fun.
The thing is it would be great if life were a bit more like writing. It would be great if there was a bit more clarity as to that thing which is our purpose. And I really don't know if just focusing harder is enough to get us there. I think the equivalent to focusing harder is learning to endure for a dream. I know suffering and sacrifice are key elements to attaining purpose. But to achieve a noble dream perhaps it takes more than a moment of suffering or sacrifice. To achieve a noble dream, that which is worthy of the life we have been given, takes full commitment. I believe it is at that moment that the Thesis writes itself.
The thing is it would be great if life were a bit more like writing. It would be great if there was a bit more clarity as to that thing which is our purpose. And I really don't know if just focusing harder is enough to get us there. I think the equivalent to focusing harder is learning to endure for a dream. I know suffering and sacrifice are key elements to attaining purpose. But to achieve a noble dream perhaps it takes more than a moment of suffering or sacrifice. To achieve a noble dream, that which is worthy of the life we have been given, takes full commitment. I believe it is at that moment that the Thesis writes itself.
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