What to do in the face of....

Three things have come together for me of late, no, make that four.

Several weeks back, a young, well-intentioned person said to me, "You are taking these things too personally." Something to the effect that these problems have been with us for a long time and they will be with us for a long time to come. I was a bit taken back, and surely in the midst of my reply was something like, "these things do matter; racism will be with us forever, but we must never, never give up." Would like to have that sound bite back.

Then, Darryl Fears, Washington Post Staff Writer, posted online an article entitled, "USDA is Called Lax on Bias." In that article, linked here for more detail, Lisa Shames of the GAO, reported before a House subcommittee that the information about resolution of Black farmers' claims being adjudicated could not be trusted. She goes on to say, according to the article, that she is preparing a report that will come out in the fall to support her testimony.

So, in essence, she's saying that the people charged with solving the problems relative to discrimination of the black farmers are sweeping things under the proverbial rug, my words, not hers.

Then, on Sunday at our church, the gentleman charged with giving a charge to the class of high school graduates encouraged the honorees with the following:

"I want us to live fearlessly."

"I want us to live dangerously."

"This life will cost you more than you could ever hope to save, so you might as well live extravagantly."

Check out that link above to read the full text that surrounds those words.

Couldn't have said it better. That podcast needs to be heard again and again.

Then, not long ago a student commented that he's learned over the last few months how the yearning for healing, and his calling by God to be a healer, can actually take place when we're moving beyond the therapy room to consider and to engage larger institutions. It's not an "either/or, but a both/and."

That, then, is my limited way of making those dots connect. The things we write on these pages are of grave importance. I do not want to become satisfied while things still need to be done.