I would like to encourage people to watch the last thirty seconds of a short video about the civil rights movement in 1963. The video begins with one of America's greatest speeches, yet it ends with something I find far more moving. At a time when no one knew whether the races would ever enjoy equality even in such trivial interactions as walking to a lunch counter or sitting in a bus seat, ordinary good people were chosen from the crowd by the random fingers of steel from a terrorist's bomb that took their children from them. In the video, we can glimpse their response.
We are approaching this election with reason on our side, determined to put an end to a ruinous era and to create new hope for fundamental progress in American history. But reason is not enough. It is too easy for people to believe that those who cheat must defeat those who play fair, that amateurs who volunteer can't outplay professionals who are paid, that people of modest means with limited information can't overcome those with all the advantages. Martin Luther King once said that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice - but how is such a thing possible? King explained it not by reason, but as evidence of the intervention of a personal God.
Many people saw this attack as a fundamental turning point in the struggle for basic human rights. Some, like Joan Baez, sang sweetly but I think erroneously that it was the cowardice and cruelty of the attack that caused the change. But we know too well from the news that there are such monstrous events every day of every year, that go without a proper reaction. I believe that it is not the attack that changed things, but the reaction of all those people. How could they find it in themselves to join together not in rage, not giving up, but showing such immense dignity, profound faith and resolve? I would suggest that what we see is the precise moment of divine intervention in human events that turned the arc of the moral universe in the right direction. To such degree as I understand, this is what Christians mean when they speak of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
I think it is worthy to fix this image in mind as we hope once again that the arc of the moral universe will bend toward justice.
Comments are closed for this post.
