Lately, I have seen a lot of changes. Some of these are big, some not so big, some local, some global, some personal, some in the middle. Some of the change is for good. Some is not for good. But almost all of it is difficult.
At one of my jobs, we recently remodeled. Therefore, as any successful remodel would entail, things are different. Some things are better (energy efficient refrigeration, larger bathrooms, etc), some not as good (harder for tall people to bag groceries), and some indifferent (moving things around). However, what must be done of this is not to complain and say that change is bad, but to celebrate the good, and take what you see as bad and make it so it is good. Complaining doesn’t get anyone anywhere. All complaining does is perpetuate the idea that your theories of what is right are more important than others’ ideas of what is right…of what is right for most. For, as the Vulcan Commander Spock stated, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”. Will you be one of the few who want change only for yourself, or one of the many who truly have needs of things that are far greater than yourself.
Now change is difficult. People fight for it, and even die for it. But when the change is for improvement, to help others lead better lives, to gain something positive as opposed to something negative, how can a person be against it? How can someone truly be against joy?
Fifty years ago today, a bunch of people marched on Washington because they had needs. They had the need to be heard. They had the need to be accepted. They had a need to truly be free, something that had been promised to them for a century, but never truly granted.
And through these needs, there was a dream. A dream that, to sum up, “[we] wouldn’t be judged by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character.” A dream that still lives on today.
The dream lives on that we will not have to face the heightened possibility of a terrifying global war with Syria, and that one day globalized peace will be possible. That American and Afghani, Syrian and Frenchman, Israeli and Palestinian, Muslim and Christian, Jew and Gentile…we will all stand together as children of the heavenly Father. We will all learn to celebrate our differences, yet love with sameness.
The dream lives on that LGBT youth will not only be accepted, but be able to marry who they love. That they will not have to live in fear of a closet of shame, because we have ripped apart the very doors that held them in. The rainbow of love and acceptance shall cover all lands from San Francisco to Mississippi to Great Britain to Russia.
The dream lives on that women will not be treated with scorn and double standards. That a woman will not be treated with contempt because she decides to have sex, while a man is praised for doing the same thing. That a woman will be given the choice to decide what to do with her body. That a woman will be supported whether she marries or not, bears children or not, has a career or not, is what is socially construed as a “lady” or not.
The dream lives on that undocumented immigrants will not be harmed, but welcomed into our land of freedom and given the opportunity without extreme pain or difficulty to become a citizen of this land that they fought hard to come to.
The dream lives on that liberals, conservatives, libertarians, and all the rest will live together in prosperity. That we will not see each other as bigots or useless hippies or anything else, but will learn to build a world together that all may live in.
The dream lives on so that we may truly observe what religion we desire, or to not observe any at all. That we will come to learn from each other, as opposed to learning to hate. That we will not invoke the name of our God to blaspheme. That we will preach the gospel of truth through love and generosity, and not through shame or ill-will.
The dream lives on…and it begins with you.
Tales of a Progressive Christian 