JanBeek

Standing up and surviving when others around you cave in and die (if not physically, then spiritually it seems) takes courage. What is courage? This quote is attributed to John F Kennedy:

“It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

It not only tells us what courage involves, but what its results can be, too. I want to be part of that ripple of hope – the daffodil with the will to survive when all around me are shriveling up. Stand up! Speak out!

Instead of building walls of exclusion, let’s erect gates for inclusion. Instead of mass deportation, let’s reinstate “Give me your tired, your poor, your hungry masses yearning to be free.” Instead of bemoaning our ills and sending up rockets of fear and hopelessness, let’s join together with energy to create the Justice and Hope we all long for. 

Are you with me?