Cross the Bridge

 

September 6, 2020

 

Reckoning with our own shortfalls isn’t easy.  I grew up in a time, and in a place, where prejudice was on a low simmer; it didn’t flare and flash as it does today, though it was always there.  But time and distance, for me, have long since conspired to engender an evolution of mind, and shared experiences an openness of heart.  So to make it clear:

Do not tell me you love me, but not my neighbor.  For we no longer share a definition of love.

Do not say all are equal, but strive to separate.  For we no longer share a definition of equality.

Do not profess piety, but dismiss the less fortunate.  For we no longer share a definition of sanctity.

Do not admonish, but abide another’s cruelty.  For we no longer share a definition of morality.

For too much of my life I did not listen, as I should.  I did not seek to understand, as I should.  And that was easy; my world was easy.  It welcomed me.  Protected me.  Abided my indiscretions, and sent me forward.  Without fear.  Without prejudice.  We all understand now that so many among us cannot say this; yet I, with a hubris shared by too many, willfully disregarded the presence and impact of those guiding hands in my own life.  Willfully disregarded the absence of such hands in the lives of so many others.  It was – and is – difficult to come to terms with this.  But time brought me together with neighbors and colleagues and friends who looked different, loved differently, worshiped in other ways.  Distance from the furnace of those simmering notions cooled old fears and doused old fallacies.  And our ubiquitous connectivity would eventually lay bare, for us all to see, the stark injustices many of us never experienced, the stories we so effortlessly and callously ignored.

We can no longer ignore it.

We now have a particular duty to speak out.  Those like me have a special obligation to extend a hand.  We must do the big things, and the little things; we must be better countrymen to those of different races, sexual orientations, of different origins and creeds.  We must support the policies and causes that improve the lives and experiences of those without our starting line advantages, upbuilding the common good, not just our own.  And we must smile.  Wave.  Speak.  Welcome.  And one day soon, God willing, embrace.

We are all in this together.

We all want to work and to feel pride in our lives, to be valuable and productive.  We all want to feel safe.  We all want to gather with our friends, to enjoy a peaceful home, and to raise happy and healthy children who will become better stewards of our nation than ourselves.

This is our moment; this is our time to cross the bridge, together.  We share these aspirations, and we share this place.  We share our home, the country we love, and have few chances to get it right.  Take them when they come, or they’ll soon be gone.

Cross the bridge.