masks and other acts of love

Remember when the whole world came together while sheltered in our own homes?  It almost seems like a dream now, doesn’t it?  We had a glimpse of a selfless unity that actually felt miraculous. 

While initially we were told that we were staying home out of regard for the vulnerable around us, in reality, the reports of overflowing ICU’s with doctors and nurses making the decisions of who would get a ventilator, who would live and who would die, was so terrifying, that most of us made our decisions out of fear.  When fear instead of love is our primary motivation for any action it becomes very hard to sustain.  Only the deepest regard for our fellow humans, a love heaven-inspired, could keep us from eventually giving in to boredom, impatience or selfish demands.  And that kind of love isn’t natural to us. 

Some people have to leave the shelter of their homes to work and provide for their families.  And people are not built to live in utter isolation.  But Nita Lelyveld of the Los Angeles Times recently wrote that reopening our economy is important and risky ….and confusing.  “I want to help save businesses and jobs.  I want to get out into my city again.  I’d love to trust that we’re all going to head out to do these things responsibly, taking every step we can to protect one another.  But I don’t feel able to take that leap of faith just yet, based on the behavior I see around me…when I go out walking, I don’t have full confidence that we’ll live up to this ideal.  I see plenty of unmasked people out on busy stretches of sidewalk where they are guaranteed to pass plenty of other people.”  (Los Angeles Times, “Can I Trust You to Keep me Safe?” May 30, 2020)

Wearing a mask has been politicized by extremists and has become one litmus test for whether you are siding with the president who won’t wear one or “left wing conspirators who want to shut the country down”.  And now we add in a level of social unrest, the extent of which we haven’t seen since the 60’s.  Yes, LA had the Rodney King riots in 1992, and Black Lives Matter energized the movement for advancements in civil rights six years ago.  But the reaction to the horrific murder of George Floyd has gone global, spawning demonstrations in London, Berlin, and every US city (when was the last time you heard of riots in Sioux Falls, SD!?)  Maybe if fear couldn’t keep us united, anger and hatred will. 

Right now, I am only cautiously optimistic. As much as I would like to see us get past these despicable divisions based on the color of one’s skin, we’ve nursed the history of racism for so long that reconciliation seems just another fleeting dream.  Some of the demonstrations have devolved into violence.  But others have been concluded with police officers taking the knee in respect for the aggrieved, and on some occasions police and demonstrators have embraced… a hopeful glimpse of divine love in action again. 

Remember when the whole world came together while sheltered in our own homes?  Let’s each find one thing that we can do for someone else.  To quote Ms. Lelyveld, “we all have to find ways to convey this message, now more than ever, if we want to move forward, not backward, together.”  So, take a knee, say a prayer, don that mask as a way of saying, “I love you…I care about your well-being.”  Wear your mask, please. 

Love, Liz   

“We need some encouragement sometimes and knowing we have friends like you sticking with us helps….your love makes it all the more meaningful.  Have a beautiful morning. Sun still shining despite it all.”                   
                               Naomi McSwain,
                               Executive Director
               Al Wooten Jr. Heritage Center in South Central LA
                               June 2, 2020 

“When it is finally ours, this freedom, this liberty, this beautiful
and terrible thing, needful to man as air,
usable as earth; when it belongs at last to all,
when it is truly instinct, brain matter, diastole, systole,
reflex action; when it is finally won; when it is more
than the gaudy mumbo jumbo of politicians:
this man…this former slave, this Negro
beaten to his knees, exiled, visioning a world
where none is lonely, none hunted, alien,
this man, superb in love and logic, this man
shall be remembered…..                      
               from the poem “Frederick Douglass” by Robert Hayden

 “O God, you created all people in your image.  We thank you for the astonishing variety of races and cultures in this world.  Enrich our lives by ever-widening circles of friendship, and show us your presence in those who differ most from us, until our knowledge of your love is made perfect in our love for all your children; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.                                                             The Book of Common Prayer

 “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character…that little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers….This is our hope…. we will be able work together, to pray together, to struggle together… to stand up for freedom together…And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.”
                                                            Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

May it be so in our time!