Buoyed

I recently subscribed to a blog about a thankful boy and momma, after hearing about it so much from people I love and trust. And because I finally remembered to do it at a time when I was in front of a computer on my own time.  A recent post was one of disappointment, post election day, and the lack of underlying sentiment in a Sunday service.  A sentiment about the values this mom's gathering promises to uphold.  We non-churchy people, who don't ascribe to or comply with any particular faith, who follow values over doctrine, were as shocked and stunned as the rest of the world on Nov. 9th  All arguments as to whether we should have been or not aside, what we're left with is what we've got--a conundrum: how do you include people in respect of one another's opinions whose practice it is to disrespect?  

Respecting someone else's opinion is for things like debating movie plots, not about whether every citizen has the same rights as a white male.  It's not my favorite standard but it drives home the point.  If you believe any other citizen--straight, non-white, different religion, disabled, different gender--should not have the same freedoms as a while male, then you need to take a good, long look at why.   

And when your faith/values community fails to speak out in exactly these terms, addressing this very point?  What then?  Lots of people have a crisis of faith community: Don't like the new pastor.  Don't agree with what edict came from Rome.  But in respect to this specific question?  When the values that drive your faith are not addressed or glossed over in a message of unity rather than pointing out the let down of the values the community purports to be based on?  I feel for her.  

I feel for her because my community responded.  And it responded precisely as I feel--as our values claim--we should have responded.  We handed out the biggest safety pins we could buy.  You need to be able to see them from afar, to be a beacon.  ​I am troubled too, but I am buoyed.  And I wear a safety pin not only as the mark of a safety zone, but as a mark of my call to action.​  This is a constant reminder of what to do, how to intervene, to speak out.  A safe zone isn't enough.  We need a No More zone.  

​I don't have a symbol of my faith--no cross, no star--but I choose this.  ​Have always chosen this.  And now, with the symbol borrowed from Brexit, I pin it on the outside every day so we can all see it.  Every. Day.