The terror in Gaza and Israel continues today. More rockets fly in from both sides. Those of us that try to learn of the history and stay current on the cultures, politics and religions of the area can easily throw up our hands and call it impossibly complex. An endless quagmire that only "divine intervention" can resolve. But again it's so easy to sit at safe distances and shrug that only God can fix this. There's nothing we can do about it. Terror and war will always be with us. And poverty and disease. Only the naive believe they can change these inherent evils, believe they can change the world...
I sat today at an all-school assembly for Lee School Elementary. 330 kids in an age range of 6 to about 11. After a program of announcements, recognition and performance, the principal said they would sing in closing "our new favorite song." This brought a stir up from the kids. I was unprepared for what came next. 300 young voices sang "Together we can change the world." Imagine with me the voices of about 300 kids, some strong and clear and some hesitant, together quite a choir singing:
My heart simultaneously soared with hope and sank with sadness. The sweet earnestness of hundreds of kids asking "What if we spoke with one voice, knowing that we have a choice?" The rueful naiveté of a child's belief in our ability to "Change your mind and change your life, set aside the fear and strife, together we can change the world!"
Naive kids. Destined to have their dreams of changing the world shattered. Nearly half of the kids in the room, 156 of them, live at or below 1.5 times the federal poverty level. Forget changing the world, half these kids will be lucky to make it out of poverty! Imagine that, a minority boy in the middle of a midwestern state whose family works merely to survive is singing about changing the world. But maybe... just maybe...
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11 comments:
Sounds like a very moving experience, especially considering the socioeconomic mix at Lee.
Your latest posts have been very thought provoking and I thank you for that.
Maybe they are innocent and naive, but maybe, just maybe, we could all learn a lot from them. We could soften our "experienced" view of the world and see what it is comprised of, people just going about their business, making a family, making a living, relating to one another. At the core we are the same and at the end of the day together we can change the world.
The longest journey begins with a single step.
You can't promise those kids that they (or you) can change the world, but you can promise them that if we sit our hands it won't change.
The thought that "only god can fix it" is, in one way, an odd one. Jews and Arabs have fought since there have been Jews and Arabs. They both claim to descend from Abraham. Since day one, the conflict was a religious one. It was god's "chosen" versus god's neglected. After Mohammad, it shifted to Jew versus Muslim. The current conflagration is Jew versus Palestinian Arab Muslim. The story is the same. It all boils down to god.
If there is a god, wouldn't it be more the cause than the "fix"?
I really appreciate the comments here. We can learn from them, I know I did. And then last night when Aaron and William watched the video again (them singing along, of course, with me verklempt watching them), Aaron said, "we are changing the world, Daddy." I asked how so and he said, "By everything we do every day." Smart kid. Maybe they really can continue to change the world.
Aaron's response reminded me of maybe the most important way I might be changing the world. Dag Hammarskjöld said "It is more noble to give yourself completely to one individual than to labor diligently for the salvation of the masses."
Oh, one other thing, I like what AA asked, wouldn't a god be the cause, not the fix? Well, my opinion is Human misinterpretation of "God" is the cause, and will never be the fix. And not just Jewish misinterpretation, but also Islam misinterpretation, Christian, Native American, Hindu, etc.
I just can't blame on God (who I believe exists) what we humans do or believe about her.
I don't think i agree w/ dag. It seems to me that is too self-centered. I think that any god would think it is noble to think outside of ourselves, outside of our own 4 walls. But I agree w/ DVD, raising secure, driven, caring offspring may do more than we ever could.
And as far as blaming god or man, if there is no god to blame it rests squarely on our shoulders.
DVD, based on your opinion, it seems like one of two things must be true. If it's true that no religion has ever interpreted "god" correctly, it is because (1) there is a god but it prefers to be unknown or (2) there is no god. Either way, god cannot be known. So, it should just left out of the equation.
Number 1 seems illogical, but also seems to be the prevailing way of things. People worldwide are content to follow a god that cannot be known. Ergo, contrary to religions' stated goal, I believe religion enslaved hearts and weakens minds.
I would like to address the statements in the previous post. I am slightly confused. I think I understand your premise, but it seems that you travel back and forth between god and religion as if they are the same thing or even dependent on the other. Sadly, we know that not all, or even most, religions depend on god for much of anything outside of "creating" boundaries, which are actually not created by that god at all, rather by the people in leadership of the religion.
Back to your point in saying that there are two choices as to why god is not known. I think that dichotomy is constructed unnecessarily. To say that the fact that god is unknown is somehow proof that he doesn't want to be known doesn't hold true. I am not and cannot be fully known by any other person, but that doesn't mean that I don't desire to be known or even try to help people know me. It seems plausible that the same may be true for god. How can his knowability be proof of his/her existence or inexistence?
Finally, I would like to know what is religion's stated goal? This is something that I am completely unfamiliar with.
I would like to return to Dag Hammarskjöld for a second (and not just because it's the coolest name ever). Considering what he did with his life, I feel safe assuming that Dag did not mean ALL you do is give yourself completely to one individual and ignore the starving masses. I find his remark helpful in 2 ways: 1. I often labor under the weight and delay of "When I have the resources to get to Malawai, what a difference I'll make!" Meanwhile, Dag reminds me I have people here in front of me with serious needs. In truth, if everyone focused on one person, that would bring about seriouos world change. 2. I find it actually harder to give myself completely to one person. There is more anonymity and "acceptable" failure in dealing with masses.
I find the discussion of the existence and possible nature of God fascinating, of course. But I just don't get snared by religion in that discussion. It enslaves hearts and minds, dadgum right. Has caused more wars than has ever ended any, I would put money on it. So?
I don't want my original point to be lost: Can we change the world, together, or is that notion simply the naive dreamings of children?
Extremely difficult
I give you this comment list as example A. Trying to change the world involves changing people's outlook on the world. Nine times out of 10 that means at some point god is going to come up and then all hell breaks loose (pun intended). Everyone is so certain that they are right (god does or doesn't exist, he wrote this book or that, you are going here or there when you die) that it makes change difficult indeed.
I guess my question is this then, can we change that our beliefs about god determine whether or not we can change something for the better together? Can a few shared values be enough? Could we, DVD, AB, Anon, Erick, Laurie, me, in our diverse beliefs, could we live our values enough to set our differences aside?
If the hungry are being fed, if people are being treated with kindness and dignity, if the earth is being cared for, and on the list goes... if that is happening, why does it matter that we believe differently about god?
I read this recently and realized it has become ever-increasingly true for me: "While it is generally more pleasant for me to encounter people who support my view of reality, I am finding that people who see things otherwise tend to do me a lot more good. They remind me that reality is more relational than absolute. Every time I am pretty sure that I have some absolute truth all worked out, a human being comes along to pose an exception to my rule. Over and over, the human exeptions prove to be more revelatory than the rules."
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