I recently had one of those days where I was almost late, or late, for a series of meetings, in part due to poor scheduling but in part due to traffic on the roads. Confession: I got angry at traffic.
Now this is particularly ironic because of a poem that I’d read earlier about just this sort of thing. The Soul Matters topic for June is “Freedom” and the Soul Matters small group materials have many readings about inner freedom. But this one poem stayed with me, because it shares the perspective of someone who knows what it’s like to not be free—not free to move about, to be with family, to vote, or do anything other than what one can do in prison.
Cindy Comes to Hear Me Read by Jill McDonough
“I met her in prison… But now she’s out!…
She has a car… Each day she sees the angry people.
Sweet, silly people,
mad- God bless them- at traffic.
At other cars.
She laughs, she told me…
People around her, angry as toddlers.
Whole highways of traffic, everybody at the work of being free.”
I am, as they say, convicted.
This past week, I got angry at traffic. I was also sent a list of 8 desperate families from Lawrence and Lowell- most with young children- whose breadwinners are no longer free but in ICE detention out of state, many in the Southwest. The panic, fear, grief, and suffering are real.
Many of us are living with the disconcerting feeling of living one’s “normal” life (which is often overwhelming enough) while neighbors and instititions are under attack. One of you sent me an article defining this feeling as “hyper-normalization.” (You can read that here). To break its spell, the article suggests taking action- no matter how small: political action, protesting, talking to neighbors in person. Some of us will be talking about those options and more, on Sunday after the service. We need each other.
Two weeks ago, it was a treat to hear from our 12th graders; this Sunday we’ll hear from our 9th and 10th graders during the “Coming of Age” service and rite of passage. This is a great service for parents of little ones to attend and get a glimpse into the future!
See you at the Meeting House, where the iris are blooming and the peonies are about to pop,
Rev. Lee