Reach up - Grab hold - Now is always a good time

I find that it is easy to simply coast. That can be taken in a number of ways. I tend to mean it as a way to live, as in, I can just coast until this passes - or  - not much I can do, so I will coast for now - or - this is too big, what can I possibly do. Coasting is easy. It is both easy to do and - it is easy to justify. When I was doing my poll on the last presidential election, over 50% of the riders said they were not going to vote - what will one vote mean? So many folks chose to simply coast - let others do the work - the thinking - the acting.

Today as I was going about my usual daily routine, I saw a bunch of litter on the road in our neighborhood. It looked like shit. Some of the stuff has been there for some time. In fact, I had been coasting by some of it so much I should have been taking daily photos to show how it was deteriorating. Instead I kept walking. Months ago when my daily walking schedule was early in the morning I was inspired to carry a bag to pick up the trash. I saw a friend doing it every morning and thought - I can do that. I did - for awhile. But the trash never stopped. Duh, trash does not stop - it keeps coming. So why did I stop? In some way I was giving in to the notion that I cannot solve this issue and if other are not picking up stuff - just coasting - I should probably just coast and do other things.

This notion of coasting - getting away with doing nothing or little - continues to be biting me on the ass. That's another way of saying - nudging me - making me more and more aware of something other than the stuff I want to do just for me - while I coast through my life. Today, in the last hour, there have been a handful of moments when I could have changed the day - stopped coasting - gotten up off my butt and made a difference. In several of those moments, it turned out to be nothing grand. I even got a refusal when I stepped-in to offer a hand. That's fine. At least the hand was there. And, to be quite frank, nothing I did for someone else made me lose anything. Helping someone doesn't mean I give up or lose anything. In fact, I'm finding it lifts up everyone.

I'm going to be sharing some words as to why my wife and I took on the task of organizing and then hosting a reception/fundraiser for Richard Cordray for Governor of Ohio. I can be such an introvert at times I don't even raise my hand to say something. But, there can be no coasting through the political arena of today. Though it is too simplistic to paint things red or blue, this does not mean that we simply let things fall to one side or the other. That is coasting. And just like bending over to pick up trash, we can put out a little energy and be engaged in what seems to be an impossible adventure - an election.

Here's is the center piece to my brief remarks I will be making. MLK used this powerful and poetic vision: the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. What an image of hopefulness. But then, a writer made this comment about that remark. He writes: It carries the risk of magical thinking. Then he adds that some may come to think - that there is no reason to work for justice - if the arc inevitably bends toward justice. I know that someone else has written that the arc bends with the weight of those whose lives stand on that arc. My thought was - wow, it can take quite a bit of energy and extroversion to climb up onto that arc - visible - exposed - almost attention grabbing. So, my thought was a bit different. 

That arc - that arc that bends toward justice - is a vision of the end that breaks into this moment at hand. I'm not going to bring about the end - but - but, I am able - right here and now - to reach up and grab hold of the arc and take part in the energy that is available for ordinary people to take part in the future - on even the smallest scale. I can do something - I can be someone - that is a part of the healing of the universe - the well-being of all things - the mercy that comes when justice is available to all. 

I know I choose to coast quite often. I also know that I have the ability to step off into the dynamics of the day that most folks would say are best left to others to handle. Then again, when I choose to coast - stay to myself - let others deal with it - the vision of justice for all continues - and yet, I'm missing out on the vibrancy of its life right now. Even if that means, reaching up and grabbing hold of that arc gets my hand slapped or my life beaten or my opinions shouted down, at least, for a moment in time, the fullness of a future of hope and justice and peace and mercy is present. In those moments, the story I am writing with my life is not all about me. I also know that when I see people around me living in the moment with their hands wrapped around that arc - they inspire me - they encourage me - they help me do the bowing and bending that takes into consideration the well being of others that takes place when each of us reaches up and grabs hold - even for just one small moment in time. 

TRRR