Justice Week

It’s Justice Week here at APU and I have mixed feelings. Social justice is just one of those topics which I think rarely occurs to people just how serious it really is. It is literally life or death and I’m afraid we, many of us anyway, simply do not have the capacity to truly understand what that means. It’s difficult to see through our comfort into the suffering that is happening worldwide. Yet, sometimes when I think I am beginning to get a glimpse, I feel a sort of awakening, ironically I feel like I’m getting a little piece of life at its’ fullest and I can’t help but want more. I feel like I’m beginning to understand what’s really important in life. Yet, paradoxically, at the same time, the more I hear about social justice and the more I hear the same thing over and over again the more… to put it as Danny said it… my heart is “hardened” to it. The conversation often feels dead to me. We sit and talk about the suffering of the world over pizza or coffee; I mean we might as well be talking about the weather. We always decide that something must be done, someone has to act, but do we? How do we? We hear so much of the same thing that I fear it’s becoming cliché or has already become so. Would it be better if we talked about it less? Would we know what to do about the problems if we stopped talking about them? Is “Justice Week” worth it? I think I must humbly say that the hardening of my heart is not because I hear it too often or hear the same things too often but it’s because I have such a conviction about it and yet I am either unable or unwilling to do anything about it (I haven’t decided if it’s unwilling or unable yet). I guess this kind of tension might be healthy at some level.

I am taking a Theologies of Liberation course right now which is being taught by Dr. Craig Keen, and while there is still much life in our conversations there I still have a sense that it’s ultimately out of my reach, however much I may fight that sense. And I still feel like I’m such a big part of the problem. But what am I supposed to do? Once again, am I unwilling or unable? I can’t decide…

How can I avoid guilt when I am so guilty?

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