Right now…
By Rev. Jeanne Randall-Bodman
“Returning hate for hate multiplies hate,
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”
— The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, “Strength to Love”—
Right now in America:
Children are stuck in detention camps
Journalists have been arrested for reporting on a protest
There is a federal agency operating as secret police. Doing exactly what secret police are designed to do – instilling chaos and terror.
Meanwhile, in Minneapolis, where ICE’s violence has been the most egregious, people have been raising their voices in warning and protest and coming together to support each other with clothes, food, shelter and community.
Hate and darkness, light and love all on the same city block.
Right now, as I read the endless stream of news, I am not optimistic. But we don’t need optimism when we have hope.
Optimism says: “I’m sure things are not as bad as they seem” and “I’m sure things are just going to get better.”
Hope says: “I see things as they are, I know how I want things to be, and I don’t need to know the outcome to do the next right thing.”
I recently heard an activist reminding her listeners that it doesn’t matter where you begin in acting for the world you hope to see, so long as you act. So long as you keep taking one step further, braver, in your actions.
“People all around you, right now, right this minute, are doing something to create the world they want to see, and that’s what we need from everyone.”
— Kris Cravens-Hutton—
Some ways I have seen members of our Kairos family act in hope and love:
Buy local
Make art
Pray
Strike (pay attention to calls for economic strikes)
Donate time and money to mutual aid
Share stories
Bear witness
Fill a little free library
Start a club/chapter of an organization
Protest
Read
Boycott
Sing
Contact your representatives
Teach your children/grandchildren
Onward in hope…