If
you do not have love, you cannot build a good society.
Bawili
My
latest edition of The Anglican Theological Review has as its theme
the issue of water justice. Every article in this edition revolves
around clean water: who has it, who needs it, who controls it.
Bawili
is a woman from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the article
and quote referenced above comes from her efforts to ensure everyone
in her community had a toilet, and the communal response to her
efforts. She is convinced that communities must be built on love,
and not just some nice, frilly idea of love, but the kind of
self-sacrificial love that drives you to build and install toilets
for your neighbors.
This
idea goes beyond the Water Justice Project and into almost every area
of our lives.
Over
the past four days, I read about yet another school shooting, this
time in Great Mills, MD, and the story of Kentucky Republican
candidate for Secretary of State, Carl Nett, tweeting that he would
like to use Democratic Representative John Yarmuth for target
practice. I met with a woman who is being forced to choose between
buying necessary medicine and paying for groceries, rent, or
electricity. I sat in on a meeting where we discussed the problems
of homelessness (including homeless children) and how we might help
alleviate that.
As
I look around, it would seem more and more that our society is not
built on love but on greed. The greed of corporations who value
profits over human lives. The greed of lobbyists and special
interests to protect their privileges while denying basic rights to
others. The greed of those so afraid that they will lose their piece
of the pie that they don't realizing there really is enough to go
around. And the greed of those who demand everyone live into their
standards of morality while ignoring their own immoral behavior.
At
times it's overwhelmingly negative. At times I feel as if I can do
little to nothing. At times I feel like the old man on the beach
watching the young boy throw the starfish back into the ocean, “Why
bother, it doesn't matter.”
But
then I remember the young boy's response: “It matters to that
one.” And I remember that big things often start small. So if we
want to build a good society, we must have love. And I remember that
within our greater society lies a smaller society named St. John's.
May
the words of Bawili inform how we live and operate in this place.
Blessings,
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