“There
have always been two Americas — the one we aspire to, a place of idealism and
revolution and freedom. And then there’s the other America, the one we actually
live in. The disconnect between those two ideas has rarely been clearer than in
this tumultuous spring….”
--Jennifer Finney Boylan, New York Times,
June 2020
There is who I am. There is who I hope to be. There is the gulf between the two.
Me—I want to be compassionate towards those who are hurting.
I want to be generous with my money, share a goodly portion with those who have
little or none. I want to treat others as I want to be treated. I want to judge
less and accept more, listen more and talk less. I want to see the best in others and myself.
And yet…
I sometimes turn away from those who are hurting or
worse, I blame them for their suffering. I hold on to my money so tightly, and
when I do give, it is often from the leftovers.
I treat others at times, with contempt, or worse, apathy. I see how others live their lives,
differently than I live my life and I wonder, “Why can’t they just be more like
me!” I open my mouth and opine whenever
a thought pops into my head, leaving little or no space for another to speak. I
can easily view the stranger with suspicion, not trust.
Who I want to be. Who I really am.
This is the eternal tension of our shared human
condition: facing into the truth of who we really are versus the hope of who we
might be—as children of God and neighbors and citizens and family members. This is the moral reckoning our nation is
being challenged to look at and face into and confess to: who we are as a nation
right now, in 2020, versus who we think ourselves to be, hope ourselves to be.
The problem is not the lofty ideals and dreams we as
Americans set forth for ourselves in our founding documents. We have and we do
dream great dreams of being a nation of justice and opportunity and equal
treatment under the law and individual dignity. “We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of Happiness.”
The problem is that for many folks in our land,
especially folks of color, they read these words and then rightly wonder if those
civic guarantees really apply to all the people. All of us. No one left out or
left behind. They wonder, like I do, if perhaps there should be an asterisk at
the end of that sentence in the Declaration of Independence and a disclaimer:
some restrictions may apply.
And so the protestors in the streets are really doing
the United States a great service right now: they are reminding us that as a
republic founded almost 244 years ago, we must still dare to imagine that we
can be a land of peace and justice, of racial reconciliation and care, of
radical freedom for every last person who claims the title of citizen. The
folks with the signs and the chants, who have been showing up in our cities and
towns and villages, all colors, all political parties, all faiths, in all fifty
states: their message to America is clear.
Be who you say you are, really be a nation that is
actually a shining city upon a hill, an example to the rest of the world of how
democracy is supposed to work. Be your words. Be freedom. Be justice. Be
liberty. Be faithful dissent. Be courageous in defending the rights of the
minority. Be an exemplar on the world stage and not just a bully. Be a land of
mercy and not revenge, wisdom and not bluster.
Be a land where the people and not the plutocrats or the professional politicians,
or the king wannabees, rule the land.
Don’t just fly a flag in front of your house or sport
a red white and blue lapel pin and mumble through the national anthem at a ball
game and imagine that this is all one has to do to be a real patriot. No.
Instead, be a real citizen: active and engaged. And in
the weeks and months ahead, sit down with your neighbors, especially the
neighbors who are aggrieved and hurting, who are angry and sad, and who wonder
why they were left out of the “American Dream” and then just listen to
them. Listen. Don’t get defensive. Don’t make excuses.
Don’t walk away. Open your ears and your
hearts and close your mouths and hear, with compassion, the stories of what is
like to live in the other America.
I know that I have a lot of listening to do in the
times to come. We all do.
There is who are, America. There is who our highest
ideals demand that we become.
God help us to get there.
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