Bending the Arc When You're Tired
Building active hope when justice feels far away
January has been a challenging month, to say the absolute least. What is normally a month of fresh starts, new planners, and hopeful plans for the year ahead has become a month of darkness, a “season of confusion.” This month, I’ve been watching things unfold here in the US and abroad in Gaza, DRC, Venezuela, and other places. As I’ve borne witness to these events, I find myself reflecting on the arc of the moral universe.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. often quoted a 19th century abolitionist, Theodore Parker, who stated
I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.1
When I read this and think through history, I find myself wondering if it’s true - are we really getting closer to justice? Or are we falling into the trap of “Justice for me, but not for thee?” And if justice is selective, where is the hope for those that aren’t among the chosen to receive it? What is our - or even just my - response to injustice? Where do you find hope for the future when the present feels oppressively heavy?
Reading through my inbox, it sounds like many of us are feeling that way.
“I’ll admit it doesn’t feel like a good year, but I’ll also say that it’s up to all of us to make it one.” - Rebecca Ringquist
“I feel like I am rowing upstream through mud. […] I’m grieved and distracted, worn-out and often disoriented just like you are.” - Emily P. Freeman
“There will be many hard ways that we work toward a more perfect union this year. […] In the midst of all this, there is the necessity of building community, enjoying the benefits of citizenship, maintaining an active and disciplined hope.” - Beth Silvers
An active and disciplined hope. That phrase stuck out to me. Active hope is not certainty that things will turn out the way I think they should. Active hope is a choice to not look away, to not distract myself with one more reel or one more show. Maybe active hope is choosing to show up for my neighbor and trust God to manage the arc of the moral universe and give me the wisdom to know the next right step in the arc of my life.
“Hope is a discipline. It’s less about ‘how you feel,’ and more about the practice of making a decision every day, that you’re still gonna put one foot in front of the other, that you’re still going to get up in the morning… It’s work to be hopeful. It’s not like a fuzzy feeling… you have to actually put in energy, time, and you have to be clear-eyed, and you have to hold fast to having a vision. It’s a hard thing to maintain. But it matters to have it, to believe that it’s possible, to change the world…” - Mariame Kaba
If the arc of the moral universe is too long for us to see the end of, maybe our job isn’t to calculate the curve. Maybe our job is just to make sure that we are bending things toward kindness and truth - in a word, justice.
As much as I’d like to, I can’t snap my fingers and fix the world, but I can be a safe harbor for the people around me while the storm rages outside, and while also making sure that safe harbors aren’t necessary anymore. Or as one user on Threads puts it:
If we try to bring about change, at least there’s a chance. Even if we’re not successful, I’d rather go down trying to bend the arc of the moral universe towards justice. (Threads user @ameliaZW)
From Ten Sermons on Religion (1853). Quote retrieved from https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780191843730.001.0001/q-oro-ed5-00008165