Whose Lives Matter?
As a brief thought for people wrestling through our current political moment. To say that Black Lives Matter, or Gay Lives Matter, or Indigenous Lives Matter does not in anyway denigrate the lives of white people, veterans, or police officers. It is to reaffirm the American Commitment that ALL lives matter. “We hold these truths to be self evident that ALL MEN (and women, and trans and genderfluid) lives matter.”
The words of the Declaration of Independence may be carved in stone and marble but like sacred scripture they should also “live and breathe and move” in our “hearts of flesh.”
Dead words don’t liberate people. Living words that have debated and sacrificed for do.
I am thankful to live in a country where vigorous debate is cherished and hope that all of us can take some renewed energy from Lincoln’s dream of a “New Birth of Freedom.”
I am also thankful that the young people I have taught over the past decades keep growing in compassion and inclusiveness. They even thank teachers for giving them tests. The conspiracy theorists could be forgiven for claiming they liberated the aliens from Roswell. I wonder if there isn’t another explanation though. Maybe they were inspired by a great leader. Maybe his spirit lives in them and maybe they are committed to a new American Dream that includes all of the people.
