On Trees and Forests

           When we get to grousing about how bad things are, we are surely finding ourselves in a place where "we just cannot see the forest for the trees!” We are personally and temporarily unable to separate our particular upset from the headways we have made as a human species. Consider the last 100 years of our human history. Inside this little capsule of time we have created technologies and medications that enhance and lengthen life considerably. No longer need anyone die from an infected blister, not even in some of the most remote parts of the world! We have the capacity to transport ourselves anywhere on the planet and so are aware of the multitudes of people who share life on earth with us. A bare 100 years ago, no one was talking about human rights. Today, even animals have rights! We share a “Godhood” that transcends our many religions, and we know it.

Laurels to be proud of...

These are laurels to be proud of, but not rested on. Given our human capacity for misunderstanding just about everything, we must keep working and keep opening doors so that hard-shelled “otherness” does not develop. As a friend of mine likes to say at the close of her Sunday homilies, “there is only one of us here!” And so we continue to make the effort to see the God of many faces, regardless of what nefariousness some may want to spread.

Kumbaya moments...

While it may feel like we are not sharing many kumbaya moments these days, there are some…and there will be more. We are, after all, some of the trees in the great, growing forest of humanity.


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