Yes it may be that
I'm too harsh. It may be that I'm too
eccentric, too demanding, too different.
Too narrow in my view of what it takes.
That I'm communicating badly, unnecessarily alienating people. Too philosophical, too harsh. Communicating inappropriately; no not in a
sexual way but in the meaning of ineffective or counterproductive from my
generation to younger people, specifically using all caps in some of my
writing.
All of that may be
true. It's my perception that it's not
true, that is not correct, it's not accurate.
What's accurate is,
and what has me with a perfect track record so far of losing every promising
soul that I've seen is that I do, and by implication call for what no one is
willing to do. The rich young man is
unwilling to give everything to the cause.
And thus far we cannot and will not face that to defeat a fossil fuel
industry going after $40 trillion in revenue will require some of us giving
everything to the cause - our friendships, our comfort, our houses, our wealth,
our careers, our futures, our pulse, our lives, our reputation, our alliances
on the Left; everything will be taken from us.
NO! That can't possibly be!!! It must be the way Loving articulates, the narrowness
of his demands, his extremism, his eccentricity, harshness…. No.
No. No. Not by any historical measure.
I can't fully
understand this so I'm not sure how I can explain it to anyone else. How can I have written of, spoken of, thought
of, articulated the centrality of the Rich Young Man parable, the Wealthy Ruler, and feel like I'm only 'getting it' right
now? I don't know. All I know is, that's how it is. That parable is the whole deal. The entire
deal.
'Yes I want to save
the world, but I don't want to offend the people on the left! Yes I want to save the world, but I don't
want to have to devote my entire life to keeping my body in the way! Yes I want to stop fracking, the folks that
are down here in DC today, but I don't want to have to quit my job to do it; I
don't want to have to lose all my friends, I don't want to offend my other
fellow activists; I don't want everyone in the world to hate me. I don 't want to devote, to give, literally
everything that I have. I don't want to
have to sell my house....'
Probably every
promising warrior I've yet encountered.
Duh. That's where they are lost - the rich young man. I can't give everything that I have.
David Hilfiker, his
books are so worth reading. A modern day
Saint, or close thereto, at least for his mid-life work where he left a
comfortable practice in a northern Wisconsin town, moving his bio-family to the
needier parts of DC to set up clinics, shelters, counseling. He was involved with Christ House, as I
understand it, a marvelous institution here in DC - medical clinic, longterm care for the
incapacitated homeless here in DC. When
I heard him speak 12 years or so ago in the wealthy Philadelphia suburb where I
existed at the time, he spoke with authority this scholarly man, how the most
written of, explained, over-explained passage in the new testament is the
passage about the 'rich young man.'
Century after century of people contorting themselves into answers as to
why Jesus certainly did not mean that we all should give everything for the
global neediest. Right?
We give EVERYTHING
that we have, or we do not fight alongside Jesus.
I expect to speak of
this more in a moment, in another log, but the status quo is the status
quo. It can change, but is a paradigm
shift when it does. It's a total
shift. Everything old goes, everything
new takes its place. So everything in
the lives of those of the status quo, near all of us, is threatened. And in that profound sense, everything has to
be sold, given up, given, devoted, risked to join the Jesus' of the world, the
King's the Gandhi's, the Alice Paul's, the Diane Nash's. This is where I've lost every hopeful soul
I've seen. With all of them, sooner or
later it surfaces to them what they would not, could not, will not give up for
the least of these our family.
And if I ever play a
role in helping to win just one Warrior to the cause, it will not be by my
joining the all but one in a million liars, or misleaders, or those who are
mistaken who say, 'Oh no, this can be easy.
We can stop fracking an easy way.
We can stop the fossil fuel industry, crazy insane after $20-80 trillion
in revenue, we can stop them without it costing us everything.’ 'You can land on Normandy Beach to defeat
Hitler, and it won't cost you everything - you won't have to leave behind
mother, father, wife, children, farm, job, career, all safety and comfort....
No, there is an easy way.' That's a
lie. Fracking isn't going to be stopped
without some of us giving everything we have in the world so that the next 200
billion children have a life other than Hell, to the cause. The fossil fuel industry will not be stopped
in their dumping of deadly warming gasses into the atmosphere until some of us
are seen for the joy of it, for the love of it giving everything we have for
the global neediest - the next 200 billion children, yet to be born.
And that's the one
little thing that so far, 'Oh, of course I want it to stop, I'll do
anything! Except for giving everything,
every single last thing I have for the cause.'
Absolutely
fascinating.
