Tuesday, April 1, 2008 at 1:01am
Have faith in America, but have a plan to make it work
Column: All Paths
In a 1979 speech, President Jimmy Carter said that "there was a fundamental threat to American democracy that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will." He called this threat "a crisis of confidence." This crisis of confidence to which he referred was the broad, growing disrespect for our government, churches, media, schools and other social institutions by Americans.
So if there was a crisis of confidence in 1979 about how Americans viewed government and other institutions like religion, media, banks, schools, etc., then close to 30 years later there has to be a complete loss of faith. We are well beyond the crisis stage. All of our major institutions seem to be failing us. Hey, there is a lot going on with our major institutions to cause a crisis of confidence or plain ole loss of faith. The list is long, ranging from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, failed and corrupt corporations and financial institutions, schools that don't teach, politicians too busy having illicit affairs and not governing, and, of course, the economy. If I left anything out, please just throw it on the heap.
Personally we all know that faith and hope have to be renewed periodically. When we feel hopeless and down and out, we become proactive and try to fix whatever is ailing us. We do something to lift our spirit. The same should apply to the collective loss of faith that our nation is suffering from right now as it relates to our major social institutions. We have to fix what is ailing us.
You know, I love America like a child innocently loves a sometimes abusive and negligent parent. It's a trying and frustrating love, because you know that even though you are setting yourself up to be disappointed over and over again, you have faith and hope that one day that parent will really keep his or her promise to make things better.
Faith is a funny thing. It can produce miracles, but you can't wait for them to happen. I believe faith is what has sustained America and made it great. Even in the most trying and dark times, something or someone comes along that lifts us up. St. Augustine said, "Have faith, but have a plan." Now why did I use this quote by St. Augustine? Let me tell you why by explaining what a woman who I think is an angel did this past weekend.
She, along with seven members of Congress and other corporate and business leaders, including SNCC legend Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., went on a pilgrimage to sites in the South where major civil rights events occurred back in the tumultuous '60s. She began her trip at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis where Martin Luther King was assassinated and moved on to sites in Mississippi such as the home of Medgar Evers, the Parchman Farm prison, and to the city of Philadelphia, where three civil rights workers were brutally slain. After visiting those sacred places and speaking with Rep. Lewis and hearing former civil rights activists tell their stories, she was overwhelmed and sad, because she realized that there was so much she did not now about this chapter of American history.
Let me tell you that what captivated me about listening to her share her experiences from the weekend is her realization that Rep. Lewis and so many of the other people whom she met over the weekend who were active in the struggle there, never once lost their faith in the promise of America. But they took their faith and had a plan. And that faith, combined with the non-violent struggle for dignity and freedom for African Americans, renewed America and made it better.
So, my fellow citizens, I too have lost faith in many of our great social institutions. But I am not going to wallow in this loss of faith. I am going to get up and get out there and work for candidates at all levels of government who want change and realize that we cannot continue to do business as usual. Then, if they get elected, I am going to hold them accountable by monitoring everything they do. You should do the same. Let's borrow a page from the civil rights activists from the '60s whom my friend met this weekend, and take our faith and put it together with a plan and renew America's spirit.
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Rev. Jay Speights has an MA in public policy and is an interfaith minister and the main U.N. representative for The New Seminary in New York. You can learn more about his work at The New Seminary website or at http://jayspeights.blogspot.com/. His email address is {email jayspeights@newseminary.org}jayspeights@newseminary.org{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Jay Speights.
So if there was a crisis of confidence in 1979 about how Americans viewed government and other institutions like religion, media, banks, schools, etc., then close to 30 years later there has to be a complete loss of faith. We are well beyond the crisis stage. All of our major institutions seem to be failing us. Hey, there is a lot going on with our major institutions to cause a crisis of confidence or plain ole loss of faith. The list is long, ranging from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, failed and corrupt corporations and financial institutions, schools that don't teach, politicians too busy having illicit affairs and not governing, and, of course, the economy. If I left anything out, please just throw it on the heap.
Personally we all know that faith and hope have to be renewed periodically. When we feel hopeless and down and out, we become proactive and try to fix whatever is ailing us. We do something to lift our spirit. The same should apply to the collective loss of faith that our nation is suffering from right now as it relates to our major social institutions. We have to fix what is ailing us.
You know, I love America like a child innocently loves a sometimes abusive and negligent parent. It's a trying and frustrating love, because you know that even though you are setting yourself up to be disappointed over and over again, you have faith and hope that one day that parent will really keep his or her promise to make things better.
Faith is a funny thing. It can produce miracles, but you can't wait for them to happen. I believe faith is what has sustained America and made it great. Even in the most trying and dark times, something or someone comes along that lifts us up. St. Augustine said, "Have faith, but have a plan." Now why did I use this quote by St. Augustine? Let me tell you why by explaining what a woman who I think is an angel did this past weekend.
She, along with seven members of Congress and other corporate and business leaders, including SNCC legend Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., went on a pilgrimage to sites in the South where major civil rights events occurred back in the tumultuous '60s. She began her trip at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis where Martin Luther King was assassinated and moved on to sites in Mississippi such as the home of Medgar Evers, the Parchman Farm prison, and to the city of Philadelphia, where three civil rights workers were brutally slain. After visiting those sacred places and speaking with Rep. Lewis and hearing former civil rights activists tell their stories, she was overwhelmed and sad, because she realized that there was so much she did not now about this chapter of American history.
Let me tell you that what captivated me about listening to her share her experiences from the weekend is her realization that Rep. Lewis and so many of the other people whom she met over the weekend who were active in the struggle there, never once lost their faith in the promise of America. But they took their faith and had a plan. And that faith, combined with the non-violent struggle for dignity and freedom for African Americans, renewed America and made it better.
So, my fellow citizens, I too have lost faith in many of our great social institutions. But I am not going to wallow in this loss of faith. I am going to get up and get out there and work for candidates at all levels of government who want change and realize that we cannot continue to do business as usual. Then, if they get elected, I am going to hold them accountable by monitoring everything they do. You should do the same. Let's borrow a page from the civil rights activists from the '60s whom my friend met this weekend, and take our faith and put it together with a plan and renew America's spirit.
— — —
Rev. Jay Speights has an MA in public policy and is an interfaith minister and the main U.N. representative for The New Seminary in New York. You can learn more about his work at The New Seminary website or at http://jayspeights.blogspot.com/. His email address is {email jayspeights@newseminary.org}jayspeights@newseminary.org{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Jay Speights.