Crisis
of Spirit
“In time
of crisis of the spirit, we are aware of all our need, our need for
each other and our need for ourselves. We call up with all the
strength of summoning that we have, our fullness. If there is a
feeling that something has been lost, it may be because much has not
yet been used, much is still to be found and begun.”
Muriel
Rukeyser
Friday evening, I was at
a restaurant having dinner with my friend, Anna. This particular
restaurant is located in an incorporated township established in
1950, part of the early wave of white-flight out of Birmingham. The
town still has a predominately white population in spite of sixty
years of integration. As we were leaving, I scanned the restaurant
and realized that there were no people of color sitting at tables. It
was an eerie, unpleasant feeling. I realized, not for the first time
by any means, that I don't want to live in an all-white society. It
is extremely uncomfortable for me to see no people of color around
me.
When I returned home and
turned on the news, I learned that people who are here in America
without documents are being rounded up and deported. This should not
surprise me, since it is what the new president promised to do, but
even so, it hurts my heart. This new administration is creating a
crisis of the spirit for millions of Americans. This morning, I found
quotes from Muriel Rukeyser, a Jewish American poet, who wrote in the
middle of the 20th century, before and during World War
II. Her words are just as cogent today, a century later. She wrote:
“In time of crisis, we summon up our strength. Then if we are
lucky, we are able to call every resource, every forgotten image that
can leap to our quickening, every memory that can make us know our
power.”
Every human being on
Earth knows the strength of those words. The people who are marching
in streets around the world today, know the power of ordinary
citizens engaged in peaceful resistance. This is not the first time, or even
the second, that the rise of exceptionalism, of exclusion, and
nationalistic animus has reared its ugly head. We have come through
similar crises and we will survive this one. We must, and we will,
summon all our ethical and spiritual resources. “However
confused the scene of our life appears, however torn we may be who
now do face that scene, it can be faced, and we can go on to be
whole.” (Muriel Rukeyser)
In the Spirit,
Jane
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