We Are Marching

As women march today in Washington and other cities around the country, we have an opportunity to awaken to the diversity of humanity that is always at hand whether we recognize it or not. No two human beings are alike, not even identical twins. Our own culture is a quilt of cultures, voices, and identities sewn together to make us who we are. 

That has always been who we are. 

Wanderers came from elsewhere to inhabit this land. The first people followed the star of expansion, bringing humanity to a new continent. Then others followed, pursuing all manner of star—simple need, but also specific needs—the need for space, the need for tolerance, the need for escape, the need for freedom, the need for another chance, the need for work, and, sadly, the need for labor that brought them against their will as slaves. 

Still they come.

But as any quilter knows, getting different fabrics to come together is not always easy to do, and, yes, there will be moments when things clash, or even a piece refuses to fit, requiring undoing, redoing, and cutting, trimming, and shaping. 

In simple terms, put human beings together, and there will be conflict.

The challenge before us is to hold together despite the conflict, and the truth is that holding together comes, not by retreating to some bygone moment we presume was less conflicted, but instead figuring out how to more strongly weave together the new pieces rubbing against one another.

That means listening to one another, deeply and strongly. We need to hear one another’s stories. We need to understand one another.

That, of course, becomes more complicated and difficult the more voices speak, seeking to be heard. The tendency is to then retreat into whatever mighty fortress we construct. Our hope, though, is to come back out from our fortresses. 

It also comes as we listen to those who struggle to find their place. 

In scripture, this move comes from God’s continual mandate to seek the welfare of the Least of These. The Least of These are any who struggle to have enough, no matter what it is that there is a lack of—food, clothes, shelter, but also dignity, care, and recognition. God is always with them. 

So, should we be.

That means understanding why those who march, march. They march to be seen. They march because they are afraid they will fall aside as the world goes forward. They march for fear that some will be forgotten. They march to awaken the rest of us. They march to counter our tendency to fall deeply into self. They march to show us the power of unity. They march to show us the power of joined hands as opposed to a closed fist. 

Keep that in mind, even if you don’t agree with the marchers or what you think impels them to march. There are voices telling us our only hope is withdrawal. God counters that with the divine revelation that our only true and lasting hope is engagement.

Take that, keep that, and be that.