A lot of mental and emotional processing is happening during this month of February. For many, it’s a month of valentines, groundhogs, Olympics, and Lenten ashes. It’s also a time of simply trying to make sense of the atrocities we experienced as a nation, particularly in Minneapolis just a month ago, but also the attitudes and actions we value as a people, as individuals, and what we hold dear.
And what rises up from the beating hearts of many, is a deep and resounding grief, and a call to re-examine just what kind of soul one might claim as a nation.
Nearing the end of the Civil War, President Lincoln, in his Second Inaugural Address of 1865, advocated “malice toward none, and charity for all,” to bind up the nation’s wounds, and to “cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” Nearly 100 years later, from his 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr. warned, “injustice anywhere is a threat to everywhere.”
And on the side of a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee around 27-30 A.D., the words of the Christ in the Sermon on the Mount:
Blessed are the poor in spirit…/
Blessed are those who mourn…/
Blessed are the meek…/
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…/
Blessed are the merciful…/
Blessed are the pure in heart…/
Blessed are the peacemakers…/
Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness…/
Blessed are you when men revile you, persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account…/
—Matthew 5:3-11
It is not surprising then, when questions start popping up while evaluating what a nation professes to be and how a nation truly responds to things like:
- peaceful disagreement and/or protest
- protecting borders without criminalizing those who have peacefully found refuge and contribute productively within a land
- giving voice to the despoiled and trafficked
- resisting the temptation to covet foreign soil
Recently, I came across this poem about the soul and society by Emily Dickinson with her characteristic sharp wit and verse.
The Soul Selects Her Own Society
The Soul selects her own Society —/
Then — shuts the Door —/
To her divine Majority —/
Present no more —/Unmoved — she notes the Chariots — Pausing —/
At her low Gate —/
Unmoved — an Emperor be kneeling/
Upon her Mat —/I’ve known her — from an ample nation —/
Choose One —/
Then — close the Valves of her attention —/
Like Stone —/—Emily Dickinson
Literary critics debate the meaning of Dickinson’s poem and whether or not it is directed to the speaker’s romantic suitor, is offered as some sort of riddle, or, is a statement of the personal inclusion of who or what the speaker allows into the inner realm of her very essence.
To me, Dickinson’s poem is a call to courage. The character of the personified Soul must select how to live: human to human, human to nation, human to God. It’s a conviction to function in good conscience in the midst of political and societal pressures, whatever they may be. I sense an inner strength in her words as she references her own humble status in society (at her low gate) before wealth, prestige, and power.
In a perfect world, nations would protect what they love, cherish what is lost and what could be lost, and close all valves to injustice. For me, the U.S. Constitution is a vital and necessary governing document.
In a perfect world, the soul of a nation would be measured and encouraged by the protected dignity for all human life.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
—Preamble to the Declaration of Independence
May we uphold what is right and just, and go forward with courage and healing in these unsettling times.
Thanks for stopping by. ♥