The Gifts of Justice & Equity

Here we go again.
Another injustice.
Even more inequity exposed.

So much pain.
So many issues.
So little equality.

And so, so many people with certainty.

I wish I had it. Don’t you?

The crystal-clear clarity
of who’s right and who’s wrong.
Every aspect of their argument
neatly lined up.
Nothing at all left to doubt.

But when I wake,
so much ambivalence shares my bed.
So weary am I of having to announce my position right away.
So worried about my limited view.
So concerned that my people
will no longer consider me one of their own if I express my doubts.

But answer I must.
Isn’t that true?

What does justice look like in this case?
What is the next right step?
What is the correct point of view?

Just put my mind to it.
Reason will guide me
and show me the way.
But what if we’ve got the starting point all wrong?
What if my mind - and yours - is not enough?
What if the place to begin is not
“How do I answer these questions?”
But “Who do I need to help me think them through?”

This is the plea of that lawyer
serving those on death row.
“Get proximate!” he pleads.
To change the world,
we must get close to those on the margins.
We must hear what they have to say.
We must see the world with their weary eyes.

Amen, cry those Latin American priests
who placed the word liberation
in front of their theology.
Blessed are the poor, they teach,
not just because they will inherit the earth,
but because they view our earthly woes most clearly.

Their gift to me, to you, to us
is to remember that the answers to injustice
arise from relationship,
as much as, if not more than,
from reason.

Who, not how.
Who, not how.
What if that is the place to begin?
What if this is the way
we change the world?

Looking for more?