We are the ones we’ve been waiting for

Fifty-seven years ago, I traveled from Tennessee to Washington, D.C. to join a protest against the war in Vietnam. My housing had been prearranged; the group I was traveling with would be staying with a family of Quakers. The weather that weekend in November tested our resolve: bone-chilling temperatures and a strong wind out of the north. Nonetheless, we marched, we sang, half a million strong we came together confidently in common cause.

Late on the final day of that weekend, my brother-in-law, Johnny, and I found ourselves with a group of militant activists at the Justice Department. I was caught up in the excitement of the moment—that is until the D.C. police started discharging tear gas canisters into the crowd. We beat a hasty retreat, doing our best, but failing, to avoid the asphyxiating gases around us. Later, as I sat excitedly recounting the tale of the confrontation, I noticed a troubled glance from the elderly man whose hospitality we were enjoying, not disapproving, but gravely concerned. Years later I would remember that expression as I read the words of Marianne Williamson:

I am of a generation which thought that we could bring peace to the world, and we didn’t think it mattered if we ourselves were angry. What we learned is that an angry generation cannot bring peace.

Sometimes I’m certain that the apocalypse is upon us. Our narcissistic president lurks behind a façade of hyper-masculinity, tweeting threats and blatant falsehoods to further the advance toward oligarchy. The airwaves are awash with professional politicians who claim they care about you and me, yet primarily serve the interests of the economic elite who fund their re-election campaigns. Our so-called leaders refuse to come to grips with inequality, lack of a living wage, a two-tiered justice system, institutional racism, encroaching authoritarianism, and spending more two billion dollars a day on our military while almost fourteen percent of children in the U.S. live in poverty. Perhaps most frightening, our planet is rapidly approaching its physical limits to growth, yet many in power seem to ignore the signals–record-breaking heat waves, extreme weather events like wildfires and floods, melting glaciers and ice sheets, and rising sea levels.

In the midst of all this madness, it would be easy to turn away, to withdraw into our own little cocoon, to claim there is nothing one person can do, to hope that someone else will deal with our current challenges. Denial, obliviousness, cynicism, somnolence and resentment can each be an easy way out. But once we’ve awakened to the menace we’re confronting, are any of these really an option?

It is essential, now more than ever, to pay attention to what’s going on in our communities, in our nation, and in the world. Do not try to hide from or close yourself off to the horrors taking place. Let yourself feel the hurt, feel the sadness, feel the anguish. Then use those feelings as a springboard to action.

We do make a difference—individually and as a group. In fact, every loving thought, every prayer, every compassionate action has a significant effect on the world in which we live and the fabric of our existence. We might be moved to listen to and hold a friend who is hurting. We might be moved to serve a meal at the local homeless shelter or help build a house with Habitat for Humanity. We might be moved to put our freedom on the line by participating in civil disobedience. We might be moved to stand together in thousands, millions to proclaim, “No more!”

We were made for these times. And it’s up to each of us to do our part. Right here! Right now!

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for!