It seems like a lot of us are caught between the desire for justice, and the desire for stability. I can remember taking a university course on the history of the 1960s, and it was kind of like this. Destructive revolution on the left, and violent reactionaries on the right.
Somewhere in my Republican soul, I said, "I draw the line at General Grant." The people who said that the agitation against statues was becoming a generalized iconoclasm have been proven right. I am not in support of racist iconography, but neither do I support the destruction of all iconography. It seems to me that our society in its own way is still very much Christian and Protestant; we just don't read our Bibles anymore. Our religious sense is not going to go anywhere. If we're not going to be Christian, we will be pagan. Secularism was never a real option; we can play at being secular, but we're not good at it.
There will have to be something human that we all can latch onto, some liferaft of stability that we can share. We won't be able to be angry at this level for too much longer. For anger to be useful, and for it to usher in real change, it has to be tempered and harnessed. I read an interesting article in Psychology Today about the toxicity of unbridled rage. Great leaders have always channeled anger into concrete action. Rage goes in unending cycles, and destroys our social bonds. Once more, we know the wisdom of, "be angry, but do not sin."
I suppose I could be tempted to say that I feel useless, but I don't feel useless. I can see what I can see; I know why a good chunk of us are angry, and I know why another chunk of us is fearful. If we can talk about it, maybe we can find a way forward. I hope I see a new generation of true leaders, that even in these troubled times will speak to the better angels of our nature. I understand that sentiment and symbolism is not enough to meet the demands of justice, but woe to those who have begun to believe that there was never any purpose in sentiment or symbolism. We have destroyed the very space for the expression of human generosity. We should not be surprised when we seek grace, and find none.
I pray even now that you find solace in prayer, and true solidarity, in this fight for human dignity. We will endure, if we hold on to hope.
Somewhere in my Republican soul, I said, "I draw the line at General Grant." The people who said that the agitation against statues was becoming a generalized iconoclasm have been proven right. I am not in support of racist iconography, but neither do I support the destruction of all iconography. It seems to me that our society in its own way is still very much Christian and Protestant; we just don't read our Bibles anymore. Our religious sense is not going to go anywhere. If we're not going to be Christian, we will be pagan. Secularism was never a real option; we can play at being secular, but we're not good at it.
There will have to be something human that we all can latch onto, some liferaft of stability that we can share. We won't be able to be angry at this level for too much longer. For anger to be useful, and for it to usher in real change, it has to be tempered and harnessed. I read an interesting article in Psychology Today about the toxicity of unbridled rage. Great leaders have always channeled anger into concrete action. Rage goes in unending cycles, and destroys our social bonds. Once more, we know the wisdom of, "be angry, but do not sin."
I suppose I could be tempted to say that I feel useless, but I don't feel useless. I can see what I can see; I know why a good chunk of us are angry, and I know why another chunk of us is fearful. If we can talk about it, maybe we can find a way forward. I hope I see a new generation of true leaders, that even in these troubled times will speak to the better angels of our nature. I understand that sentiment and symbolism is not enough to meet the demands of justice, but woe to those who have begun to believe that there was never any purpose in sentiment or symbolism. We have destroyed the very space for the expression of human generosity. We should not be surprised when we seek grace, and find none.
I pray even now that you find solace in prayer, and true solidarity, in this fight for human dignity. We will endure, if we hold on to hope.
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