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I’m tallish by American standards (six foot one), which makes me a target for certain requests in grocery stores. They go like this: a total stranger of diminutive stature—always a woman, I’m not sure why—wants to grab a box of Shredded Wheat for her family. The store, however, has placed it on the top shelf, way out of her reach. She spies me headed her way. Guess what she thinks next:
I’ve been paying close attention to this lately, and not just in grocery stores. The people who make our weekly calzone always banter a little with me. The guys at the town dump share a joke. An older woman says “thank you” when I hold the door open for her; sometimes a young man does too. Almost without fail, if they interact at all, it’s polite, pleasant, even warm. Call it a bond of the everyday: the dozens of tiny but civil interactions that, just for a second or two, tie us together. They’re every bit as substantial as the comment from the troll who flamed you on Twitter the other day. More so if the troll posted anonymously. Here’s why I’m writing this. You may have noticed that, um, Americans are a tad miffed at one another. And by a tad miffed I mean raging, bulge-eyed, heart-attack-inducing furious. Some of them are talking about civil war. You know the situation. There seems to be nothing to bring us together again. But what if we start small--really small, with the bonds of the everyday (among other things)? And maybe a shift in focus too, as in, we start paying as much attention to these warm and happy exchanges as we do to the race baiting and cancelling and whatnot on social media? What if we set our hearts on those everyday bonds? This may sound Pollyanna to some. And of course it won’t solve everything. But the reconciliation’s got to start somewhere. You’ve got thoughts; I’d love to hear them. Bonus points if you can help me see, thoughtfully, where I’m wrong.
1 Comment
Arthur
6/26/2024 01:32:45 pm
Yes, "God is in the details", I've heard it said somewhere. Those tiny--but oh so very concrete and real--moments of healing and reconciliation and forebearance and goodwill...that, I think, is where the hope of the world is to be found. I'd say it is even more powerful when we "love our enemies", especially those who, at the moment, are yelling at us or violating our values or not at all being "nice" or "civil".. Then I'd say that God is actually fully present.
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About the PhotoThis sign once inhabited the parking lot of my sister's old apartment complex. I know meteorology has become a precise science, but this is ridiculous. Archives
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