Real
Courage
“I
wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea
that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know
you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it
through no matter what.”
Atticus
Finch to Jem in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
I confess that watching
the young people from Parkland, Florida speak to their elected
leaders yesterday made me cry. I am so impressed by their courage and
determination. It causes me to flash back to the 1960's when children
right here in Birmingham, Alabama locked arms and sang hymns in the
face of police dogs and fire hoses. Not since then, together with the
demonstrations against the war in Vietnam, have we seen children
united in their determination to bring about change. In the past
year, we have once again witnessed that kind of activism—in the
Black Lives Matter movement, in the Women's Marches around the
country, in the demonstrations at Standing Rock. These young people
may not win, (though I believe they will) but what they will succeed
at is eroding the power of the NRA's purse. The potency of youthful
passion is, and always has been, a catalyst for change.
I stand with Atticus
Finch—courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. In fact, that is
the opposite of courage in my estimation. It does not compute with me
to talk of heroism being one's willingness to shoot another human
being—even in the face of danger. It should never get that far.
Teachers should never be put in the position of either taking a
bullet, or killing another person. Our schools should not have to
practice “active shooter” drills. All of this is now our reality
because our ideas of security have morphed from personal ethics of
the heart into something with a metal stock and barrel. Instead of
funding programs that would provide support and counseling to people
who are lost and terrified, our elected leaders happily accept cash
from the NRA and send their “thoughts and prayers” to the parents
and children whose lives have been shattered by gun violence. It's a
shame and a national disgrace.
Rev. Billy Graham died
yesterday. As a child, I spent many a summer night watching his
evangelical crusades on television with my grandmother. In my memory,
he consistently preached a message of love. Today, the evangelical
right has strayed as far as possible from that message in its embrace
of guns. The new religion of the NRA has blotted out the message of
Jesus: “Let the little children come unto me, and do not hinder
them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew
19:14) The kingdom of heaven belongs to the children of Parkland,
and Chicago, and Charleston, and Aurora, and Sandy Hook and Columbine,
and everywhere else on this planet. It's time we recognized their
rights, their courage and their power.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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