It’s when believing in things feels hard that we have to do it

In these times of deep discord and disorienting differences, we need our beliefs to underpin connection and action. 

Two weeks ago, my granddaughter reported a sore throat and coughed a lot. I asked, “Did you test for Covid?”

She shook her head, “I don’t believe in testing. I’m sick. I’m staying home. I’m in my room protecting others.”

Yesterday, when ordering out for dinner, her mother asked, “What would you like for protein on your pizza?”

She answered “I don’t believe in protein.”

I laughed, smiled and lovingly tapped her shoulder, “You don’t believe in a lot of things.”

She raised her eyebrows, “Don’t you think It’s easier not to believe than to believe?”

She’s eleven!!

To honor this strong young woman, I will list some things I don’t believe.

I don’t believe only people who look like me are smart and belong here. 

I don’t believe that white male heterosexuals are the only patriots.

I don’t believe that banning books keeps us from reading them.

I don’t believe that autocrats, authoritarians, bullies and wanna-be dictators make the best leaders.

I don’t believe that teamwork flourishes if everyone on the team thinks like me. 

I don’t believe that the Ten Commandments should hang on school walls unless the practices of Buddhism, the Pillars of Islam, the tenets of Hinduism, the principles of Judaism and maybe even Rotary’s four-way test, and the twelve steps of AA, are also posted. 

I don’t believe in refusing women’s health services with the narrow interpretation that they are all about abortion. 

I don’t believe that most tech industry billionaires have our best interest in mind.

I don’t believe that solar and wind should be omitted from lists of energy sources. 

I don’t believe physical or cognitive ability is a measure of a person’s value. 

I don’t believe that those of us who are (for now) able-bodied should feel or be treated as special. 

I don’t believe love is limited to one man-one woman. 

I don’t believe America should turn away “the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”

What do I believe?

I believe in diversity. I believe diversity is what George Thatcher Balch, Civil War Union Army officer, meant with his words in the Pledge of Allegiance in 1885: “with liberty and justice for all”.

I believe in equity. I believe our founders did too, as they wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I believe our Declaration of Independence inspires us to fight for equality. Abraham Lincoln called it “a rebuke and a stumbling block to tyranny and oppression.”

I believe in inclusion. Ruth Bader Ginsburg: “We will all profit from a more diverse, inclusive society, understanding, accommodating, even celebrating our differences, while pulling together for the common good.”

In these times of deep discord and disorienting differences, I still believe the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”. 

For justice, we need solutions and action. We could start here:

Connect. Ask questions about next steps. Listen for answers from those who speak truth. Eat well. Sleep well. Move a little. Love a lot. Lovingly tap the shoulders of our pre-teens to help usher them into a citizenry with something we can smile about. Do something. Some simple thing. Doing nothing will change nothing. Doing nothing is no longer an option.