MLK Jr Day: Echoes.

One cannot live in the land of the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) without picking sides. To remain neutral when the air we breathe is only available to those who have made a choice, is for the most stoic, and the competitive ritual only begins with a choice. One must then gain knowledge of the great shots, upsets, and legends to hold your own at any social gathering.

It does not end with the positive, however. There is a dark side as well. The dramatic losses, missed shots, and villains from the other side must also be memorized. Although the tone of discourse diminishes in the spring and summer, the we/they chorus warms up in the fall and reaches record volume by basketball season.

I did not attend any school in the ACC, but I've learned to chime in. I’ve picked a side, and recently I have come to see how silly it is for me to care. It was something I chose as a way to dance in the culture and find a place to fit in. 

On a much more serious note, today is one in which we are asked to see all the other kinds of sides we've chosen, ways we have gone along with a culture in hopes of fitting in. “Tradition” is a regal term for justifying the status quo. “I was raised this way” is a convenient resting stop along the climb to personal growth. Richard Rogers reminds us in South Pacific that the loves and hates of our time must be "carefully taught." 

Whether in discourse about race, sexual orientation, economic or physical means, religious denominations, political affiliations, geographic heritage, or vocations . . . we’ve all picked sides. Lot’s of them.

Just thinking about all the sides I’ve picked leaves me dizzy and exhausted. How great it would be to take a break. How freeing to see the silliness of it all.

There is sense of security in fitting in and belonging, but the same walls that provide comfort also cause discomfort. To recognize this is only one step along a challenging journey of personal growth. Living without walls, without we’s and they’s, is disconcerting and frightening, but it’s the life to which we are called.

It was a call we heard many years ago in this country when Martin Luther King Jr. and others challenged our country at it’s core, but the words were as ageless as the mountains and seas. If we listen closely, the echoes of justice and equality can awaken us from our spiritual slumber once again, and we can find the more abundant life God intended.