To Be Disturbed
The words of writer/activist Shayne Moore have lingered with me. Moore is a mother, an author, and an activist with the ONE Campaign for whom she has stood with some of the most powerful people in the world on behalf of the least powerful.
Why are we so hesitant to look into the pain and suffering of others? Is it because these situations are hopeless? Do we feel they are too far away and there is nothing we can do? I mean, we’re just ordinary Middle American women. Who are we to make a difference? Are we afraid we will be too disturbed? That seeing and experiencing and entering in to another’s real life of staggering poverty, abuse and disease will throw off our emotional and spiritual comfort?
I have come to believe we are supposed to be disturbed.
And I have come to believe that being disturbed by the global situation of poverty and disease is not the same as having no hope. In fact, so much has changed on the international scene when it comes to the fight against these things. There is much hope!
We are supposed to be disturbed. How much effort do I spend trying not to be disturbed, when so much is so disturbing?
And there is hope. This is a season of hope, but we are now coming to grips with the reality that hope must lead to action.
It is time for a season of action.
Action requires energy. Action is energy and that energy comes not only from hope but from anger. The anger that comes from knowing that things are not as they should be.
I avoid being angry. Anger feels like a loss of control and I like to feel that I’m in control.
Barbara Ehrenreich has written a book called, Bright Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America. In a recent interview, Ehrenreich said:
I think—first, I think it would be a—it’s a mistake to try to turn your anger and resentment and sadness or grief into something else. It’s very bad to try to just plaster on a smiley face. And that’s what Americans have been told to do as they’ve lost their jobs in layoffs now for a decade. Just put on a smiley face, go to the next place. And, you know, there’s a time when you have to say, “Wait a minute, this is not in me. This is not my attitude. This is coming from somewhere else. And we need to understand what that is and try to figure out how to get together and change it.” That’s my approach.
The questions are important. What is going on inside of me? Why do I hesitate to enter into the suffering of others? Is it a lack of hope or is it the answer to another question?
What are you going to do about it?
That is the question people I respect always respond with to the big “Why” questions. Why did this happen? Why did God let this happen? Why isn’t somebody doing something? Why?
The scary part is not that these things happen but that it is within me to do something about it. I am responsible for doing something about it. Hope can be frightening.
There is a power in hope. There is power in anger. The power in hope and anger, like any power, can be directed for you or against you.
Anger, if not transformed into action, can become despair. Ernesto Cortes, Jr. is a community organizer in Texas. His work has been chronicled in Mary Beth Rogers book Cold Anger.
In Cold Anger, Rogers writes, “Ernesto Cortes, Jr. and the people of the Industrial Areas Foundations organizations have chosen to be energized personally and politically by their anger. In turn, they are changing the political process wherever they participate. That is because anger for Cortes and the people he organizes is an emotion of hope–not despair. Ernesto Cortes is helping new political participants take the hot impulses of their anger and cool it down so that it can become a useful tool to improve individual lives and the quality of the common community. For them ‘cold anger’ reflects the hope of change.”
Compare that with the temper tantrums of August and the tea party movement. Those protests were raw, media driven, and short-lived. They have not organized around building anything but rather shaking a fist at a world moving on.
In a new season of action, may I become disturbed. May I enter into the suffering of others. May I realize the anger within me. May I respond with discipline, constructive action.
May action lead to hope.