It has been a disheartening few days. Is this America, these images of hatred, spurred on and protected by the highest elected official in our country? A President is protecting a domestic terrorist group. A father has turned against his Jewish daughter and son-in-law and grandchildren.
The shocks of the past several months seem to never end. And yet …
We must take heart: our country has seen this bigotry, racism, ignorance and hatred before. And though it doesn’t feel like it right now, we have made strides toward racial equality since slavery.
Remember that Unitarian minister Theodore Parker protected his Negro congregants from slave catchers, at great personal cost. Remember that he said, “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe… [but] from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.”
There were people of all hues standing on the side of worth and dignity and justice in Charlottesville. Keep those images before you — not to blind you from the hatred, but to illumine the love that was there as well.
Do not lose sight of the inherent worth, the dignity, the sacredness that is in every living being. In times of ease and dis-ease, our religious principles separate us from those who carry shields over their hearts.
Take heart. Hug each other. Listen to each other. Then do the work every day, because we must keep bending the universe toward justice.
Love is on our side. Love *will* prevail. When? I don’t know when. But I have seen glimmers, and I am hopeful.
Out Loud 