A couple of things have happened over the last few days that I am going to draw on for inspiration, and I am going to try to keep my well full so that I can meet my goal to be an inspirational blogger.
On Sunday, I went to Mass. I'll be honest, I was very nervous about going to Mass. I was afraid I would hear rhetoric that is the antithesis of what I believe Catholicism should be.
Boy, was I surprised. I had difficulty holding back tears when Father Pat gave his sermon. He talked about the power of words, and how we as Christians have an obligation to not just ask ourselves "What Would Jesus Do?" but also "What Would Jesus Say?" The gospel reading warned that all who do good will be persecuted, and that we should not make our own defense, but rather ask Jesus to speak through us. And Father Pat emphasized that we should be very careful that our words are not coming from a place of anger or defeat, but rather our words should be words that build up and protect.
Now, I know many of my readers aren't Catholic, and don't practice a faith tradition. What I heard in non-Catholic terms was "Be the Good. Protect others. Use words carefully to build up and protect. Speak out against injustice, but do so in a way that attracts people to listen and hear, rather than provokes them to close their ears and hearts and mount a counter argument."
This morning, I had the opportunity to spend a little over an hour on the phone with a very dear friend in China. She is a Chinese national, and has lived in China for most of her life. She did live in the US, in Texas for two years as part of a career development exchange program. We use the meeting host service WebEx to share pictures and information, as many forums for information sharing are not available in China. She shared that there are rumors that China may open up Facebook soon. I can send her Gmail to her work account, but her private account does not accept Gmail. She can't use Google or Facebook. Today, we tried Pinterest, and it looks like that may be a site allowed by the Chinese government. If so, I will set up a board on my Pinterest to share things with her.
What is the point? The point is, that in spite of living in China, where human rights oppression is very real, my friend is a very good person who works tirelessly to improve the lives of others. She works in Industrial Hygiene and in Safety, protecting people from harm in the workplace. She does this in a place where there is not a regulatory framework to support her efforts. She does this in a place where many of the workers she is trying to protect don't understand the protections she tries to put in place.
But she keeps trying. She keeps making it better. She keeps approaching each day with a sincere love for her fellow human beings, and an optimism that is undaunted. If she can work in the situation she works in for the good every day with a smile, and love, and an unbending will, so can I.
The final thing that happened was that I read an account from a woman who had played Miep Gies, the woman who hid Anne Frank and other Jews from the Nazis, in a school play. The woman had written Miep Gies, to tell her how she admired her courage in risking her own safety to save others. She shared the letter she got from Miep Gies in response. The letter was incredibly moving in its honestly.
Miep Gies said that she was not courageous, simply a secretary and housewife, who knew that inaction would haunt her the rest of her life, so she had to at least try.
And there you go. I have to at least try. I sent letters to Speaker Ryan, my senators and my congressional representative yesterday, and they will get more letters today. I will write every day to inform them of my position on issues.
I will not be silent in the face of injustice. I will not give up. I will fight against all discrimination and any effort to take away necessary protections from the people of the United States.
I accept it may happen anyway. But I will be like my friend in China, and never give up trying to make it better, no matter how my government behaves.
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