Big-hearted Belonging

One of my deep interests is the way in which human beings sometimes save one another.

In the third grade, I had a teacher who saw what was needed to save certain children.  At least twice a day, Mrs. Doutt called Charlotte to the front desk so she could rub moisturizer onto her chapped hands.

And, when it was revealed that the home lives of some of the children were stressed, Mrs. Doutt suggested that the class hatch chickens and quail from an incubator and care for the chicks.  In nurturing the chicks, the sadder children revived their hope.  After the chicks, Mr. Doutt added some baby rabbits.  After the rabbits, frogs.

The class became a menagerie ... replete with daily revelations, with laughter, with a tide of life, with healing.

At the other end of life, I once sat in the back of the room during a church service for the infirm.  Each of the partipants held a bud vase containing a single rose while they told the congregation what they were most grateful for.  After that, they passed the rose to the person beside them.  This was one of the wisest gatherings I've ever witnessed.  The participants were grateful for Back, for the ocean, for January, for a dream, for a collicky grandchild, for a blue pair of socks, for Flaubert, for a walk in the garden, for the love of their lives.  By the time the rose had been passed all the way around the circle, the entire group had joined hands.  A few comments of thanks had saved them from something -- over-worry or loneliness, regret or pain.  By the end, they had a agreed on a common purpose, a hopefulness, an insistence on the good, an unexpected renewal.

When my father held the rose, he was grateful for one thing.

"My daughter Lane," he said, not knowing I was there.

In the moment, I stopped breathing; because if I had kept on breathing, I would have cried.

I, who had stepped into the back of a church service, expecting to remain hidden, had been named, called out, surprised.

Who was saving whom?  It was hard to say.

One of the most beautiful ways to be saved is anonymously.

Once, my car broke down in a rainstorm at night.  Almost instantly, a homeless man appeared and pushed my car to safety, so that I wouldn't be struck from behind.  When I tried to thank him with a gift of cash, he had disappeared.

One of the qualities I love most about the soul of the country is the way in which we save one another.  There's a generosity of spirit within our national character, an irreplaceable benevolence, a faith in one another's goodness, a big-hearted belonging.

Those who act counter to those values have misunderstood the nation's spirit, underestimated the people's motives, failed to see our transformative potential.

And I will say this:

It is easy to divide people.  The children in my third grade classroom had parents who were Ph.D.s and seventh grade dropouts, both.  The ailing individuals who passed the rose around the circle should have been suffering too much to contemplate gratitude, their own or anyone else's.  The homeless man who pushed me to safety was separated from me by a car, a profession and a bank account.

Yet, all of these people joined together to convey that one another's wellbeing mattered, that their gratitude weighed in the balance, that their safety was counted.  All of these people saved one another -- through their goodness, through their striving, through their choice.

This commitment to our neighbors, to our communities, to our country, and to the world of nations is part of who we are as Americans -- an immutable part, a foundational part, a redeeeming part of our national character that no one can take away from us.

In this struggle for the soul of the nation at this point in our history, President Biden reminds u of our bonds of fellowship, our strength in compassion, our reilience in community.  He continues to epxress to the American people that all obstacles can be overcome as long as we face them together, hand in hadn, with faith, integrity truthfulness, and resolve.

How much does our goodwill toward one another matter to the arc of human history?

If the arc of human history is the archer's blow, our goodwill is the arrow.  It defines precisely how far we will go.

I would argue that, while our technological prowess is reproducible, our humanity is not.

The benevolent soul of the nation will enable our greatest accomplishments, because it will reclaim our striving's greater purpose:  one another, in community, upheld as worthy and honorable people.

President Biden and Vice President Harris hold that wisdom to be self-evident.

In 2024's streggle between autocracy and democracy, so must we.

Lane MacWilliams