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| Sea of Okhotsk. |
Last week I wrote, "Our human capacity for chaos and cruelty still require worthy advocates of hope to remain very sober."
But not too sober!
I'm not the only one who realizes our hope must be deeper than the outcome of any particular contest, such as the 2024 U.S. presidential election (to choose a random example!).... Similarly, hope can't depend on one team in that contest being perfectly wonderful and the other team being uniformly villainous. Since my own family has people in both teams, that division breaks down right away.
Finally, hope for the future shouldn't keep us from seeing our neighbors who are suffering now, and whose suffering might well continue into the future even if our political dreams for 2024 come true.
Back in 2008, I was definitely caught up in the euphoria generated by Barack Obama's fired-up presidential campaign. Part of that wild hope was the promise of relief from the cynicism generated by the USA's post-9/11 wars, and the Bush-era neocons' calculated program of lies that powered those wars and cost us $8 trillion and the lives of over 900,000 people.
In a moment of hopeful sobriety that year, I wrote that "I don't expect the dawning of the Age of Aquarius on Inauguration Day, January 20. I expect that if the people make the best choice for U.S. president, the result on a policy level might be 5% better, or 10% better, than if they make the 'wrong' choice." However, I remember feeling that even "5% better, or 10% better," would (judging by the previous administration) mean thousands of lives saved.
Later that same year, 2008, Judy and I found out that we needed to move out of our original apartment in Elektrostal, Russia, and find a new apartment in a little over a week.
I retold some of that story here. Here are some more details. When we found out that we needed to move, we went to a real estate office in Elektrostal and explained our situation. The agent said, "Well, it's a tight market right now, but we happen to have a place for rent in the new building across from where you're living now." He took us to see the place—it had two bedrooms, a big living room, a comparatively large kitchen, an enormous hallway; what more could we want?
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| Our living room was big enough for a Friends House Moscow board meeting. (Photo Mary Morris.) |
He went on to say that if our friends and colleagues ever found out we'd turn down a nice apartment on account of their feelings, they would consider us crazy. In other words (in my interpretation), there's such a thing as excess sobriety. And if we had not chosen that new apartment, we would not have gotten to know the apartment's owners, who are among the loveliest human beings we met in Russia.
So, in responding with hope to the new energy in 2024's U.S. presidential race, we do well to stay sober, but not too sober. We should avoid going into denial about the world's persistent realities and their human toll, but we do not stand aside and withhold our own hopeful energy from that same world's new possibilities.
Realism is hope's ally, but cynicism is cheap wisdom—and spiritual poison.
Suzanne Eller on Threads:
My soul hungers for civility. For human kindness. Are you there too?
Just this morning I saw a post from a guy who talks about Jesus, but his words were not only harsh, but gross. He used those words to “defend” our faith even as he tore down those who disagreed with him.
I wish I could make it go away, but I can’t. So I’m asking the Holy Spirit to examine my heart. I want to reflect Jesus who is strong, relentlessly tender, and who doesn’t care about one nation, but the world.
I first linked to a David Gushee article during the major USA controversy over torture in 2005-2006, when Christianity Today published his article "Five Reasons Torture Is Always Wrong." He has another list for us this election season: "Regarding election 2024: Eight things I see."
Ars Technica continues its coverage of the hapless Starliner: The NASA decision to return Starliner's test pilots to earth on a Crew Dragon; and the possible implications for Boeing.
Pope Francis: working to drive away migrants in distress is "a grave sin."
Derek Trucks, a true original, can reproduce B.B. King licks when he wants to:
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