February One: Taking a seat.

Walking into a coffee shop, I noticed a t shirt which read: “Sometimes to take a stand you need to take a seat.” Living in Greensboro, NC, I knew what the shirt was honoring. On February 1, 1960, four students from a local collage went to Woolworth’s and took seats at the lunch counter. African Americans were not allowed to sit at the counter, so they were refused service. The four students refused to leave, and their protest began The Sit-In Movement, which soon spread throughout the South. The students felt called to take a stand against injustice, so they took a seat.

In the comfort of my 50+ year old gaze, I can sit back and say “way to go” to those students and the many who supported them, just as I can condemn those who did not, but that retrospective support or condemnation is too convenient. Looking back, it’s easy to see the injustice for what it was, and the people for whom they were, but what about today?

Where are today’s counters of segregation?

Who are the ones being refused service?

What are the laws or customs that divide us?

What injustices do we dismiss as “the way things are”?

To what are we blind?

The question to be asked this February One, is for what are you and I willing not only to take a stand, but take a seat?

Yes, there are many things we disagree with about our world, and maybe we will raise our voice in protest, but what would it take to get us to live out our disagreement not only with our lips but in our lives? What would move us to go beyond writing a check in the comfort of our study, and show up at a soup kitchen, political rally, or church forum? What would it take to stop going with the flow and swimming in a new direction?

One of my greatest fears is facing God when I die and hearing I played it too safe. Instead, I want to have failed because I tried something too difficult. I want to have sat in the company of few, because I cared for many. I want to have squirmed with my own discomfort, because I traveled beyond what I knew . . . intellectually, spiritually, socially, and financially. Regardless of what is or is not achieved in my lifetime, I could rest in peace if some of this were true.

How about you? For what are you willing to take a stand? More important, for what are you willing to take a seat?