"Onward we go, faithfully into the dark..."
So I was going to write an “end-of-2020”
blog. But I didn’t want it to be full of doom and gloom, as not everything was
bad! Even in the worst of times, I believe we can still find some things to be
thankful for. Anne Frank once wrote, “I don’t think of
all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.” If she could write that in the midst of the
Holocaust, I think I can certainly find some beauty that remains in these times
too.
Yet I also didn’t want to write something
that might come off sounding overly optimistic, as we are not out of the woods
yet. Not by any measure. We’ve got many dense forests ahead of us to navigate
through.
For all the signs of hope, for the signaling
of a transfer of power… it always seemed like it was “one step forward, two
steps back.” There was no way 2020 could
be wrapped up neatly with a bow.
If 2020 taught us anything, maybe one of
those things was not to be so certain of certainty. “Hold things loosely,” “be ready to pivot,” “be
ready to adapt.” All catchphrases and wise guidance, perhaps not just for 2020
but for all of life.
Then came the New Year, full of potential
and fresh starts. New Years’ often feel
like this, maybe even more so after the year we just had. Yet the cynic in me was cautiously
(cautiously being the key word!) optimistic. Turning the page on the calendar
doesn’t mean a clean break with the past year. So I avoided writing a “New Year’s”
blog too. What to say??!
Then January 6th. The local
newspaper came, and still no justice for Jacob Blake. Turn the page and there’s
the maddening story about a pharmacist intentionally ruining hundreds of doses
of vaccine. It didn’t seem like the day
could get any worse. Until it did…
A mob of angry and violent whites storming
the nation’s Capitol, windows broken, mayhem and lawlessness by people who misguidedly
follow this “law and order” president.
Where was the law and order this day? Where was the planning and preparation
for security? Why was the mob able to gain such easy access, while peaceful
Black Lives Matter marchers got pelleted with rubber bullets and tear gas?
Does it really take this kind of a scene
to awaken some people to the danger of this president? It shouldn’t have come to this. This presidency could have ended MONTHS ago. Some
senators now beginning to change their tune, but how much damage has been done
in the meantime?
I never thought I’d have to be teaching my
children what “coup” and “insurrection” mean. But here we are.
I read a poem this week which contained
the line, “Onward we go, faithfully into the dark.”
Indeed, onward we go.
Because there is no other way to go,
no detour we can take to bypass this mess.
Onward we go, faithfully into the dark.
We go because we must.
We go because we still believe decency and
democracy are worth fighting for.
We go because the only alternative is to
freeze and do nothing.
Us humans, we must keep each other warm.
We must get through this, together.
Onward we go, faithfully into the dark.
It’s dark, and we are grappling to find
our way.
We’re trying to find some foothold amidst
rocky terrain.
I don’t know what the days and weeks will
bring.
None of us have the map for this.
But onward we must go. Faithfully.
Together.
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