Say Whaaa? Originally posted May 2010

Grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change, the courage to change what I cannot accept…
(paraphrase of The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Neibuhr, as heard on “Car Talk,” on NPR May 15)

Sometimes inspiration for these meditations comes from unexpected places! I was listening to a “Car Talk” podcast in my car the other day, and I heard something very interesting. For those of you who don’t know “Car Talk,” it’s a call-in radio show broadcast on NPR, focusing on car repair, though it tends to veer off into humor more than once in each episode. “Click and Clack, the Tappit Brothers,” AKA Tom and Ray Magliozzi, usually start the show with an email from a listener, or a joke, or some funny headlines, or something. Anyway, the quote I used above was from their May 15th show, and it really struck me.

“The courage to change what I CANNOT ACCEPT” rolled around in my brain for awhile, collided with “none of us do it alone,” and kinda exploded into a train of thought. As our good friend Martin Luther would say, “What does this mean?”

First, an example from history. Rosa Parks. She sat down when the law of the day told her to stand up, and because she was tired from her hard work all day, she didn’t get up when they told her to. She had “had it up to here” with that stupid rule, and she wasn’t gonna take it anymore.

Perhaps a mother, who can no longer accept the abuse going on in her family, finally finds the courage to take her children and leave.

Or a father, who is terrified of the harm his wife’s substance abuse may have on his children and can no longer accept living in this fear, finally finds the courage to face it and get help for her.

Or a family with extra food, who can’t accept anymore that others in their neighborhood are going hungry, wraps leftovers into an Aid For Friends meal. Or delivers groceries to the food pantry. Or, heck, hands out food to the homeless guy on the corner!

Or a young person, who can no longer accept the special treatment a certain group gets at school, bands together with other young people and goes to the administration to address it.

Or another young person, who can no longer accept the bullying and teasing that tears away at the self-esteem of a classmate, stands up for that classmate, publicly declaring that the ‘differences’ that prompted the teasing aren’t bad, just different!

Or a university professor, who can no longer accept that you can ‘earn’ your way into heaven, starts telling everyone that God says we are saved by the gift of God’s grace!

These are all “small” changes, right? I mean, one family isn’t going to end world hunger, one woman or one man aren’t going to end global domestic abuse, one young person isn’t going to end discrimination, one teacher isn’t going to change the minds of a nation….but one person CAN make a change that will affect the people around him, and those people can make a change to affect the people around them, and….see how it can multiply! One person saying, “That’s it! I’ve had it up to hear with this crap!” can turn into a movement that changes the world.

That’s why “we don’t do it alone” is so important. It’s really easy to get caught in the trap of, “Yeah, well, discrimination sucks, but I can’t do anything about it; I’m only one person.” The truth is, you can – and should – do something about it! No, you may not be the person who is credited with ending social injustice, but it’s part of your job as a person of faith – a person commanded by God to love your neighbors – to do what you CAN do. And I’ll tell ya, the courage to change what you cannot accept – even if it’s just a small change like not participating anymore – is a good first step!

Have a blessed week, my friends!
Lisa

PS – You think Tom&Ray would ever imagine that their words would turn into a youth meditation? Me neither! But they’re gonna find out – because I’m going to send this to them! I want them to know what their words started!