This outcome will make for a better story. People whose lives are unbroken chains of upward mobility are hard to relate to and not as compelling as the overcoming narratives.
MLK, Ruby Bridges, Harvey Milk, Jesus, my parents... i see themes in these lives and none of them involve flighty, unchallenging, overnight success stories. some even died in the midst of the cause. some gave their life for the cause. their fight is synonymous. their beliefs, all, very different. civil rights, human rights, love & peace, marriage... all true things, worth sticking your fists up for. and all of which make it easy for me to connect with.
when i hear stories of my parents flailing marriage, it gives me perseverance in the times when it feels like relationships would be a lot easier if they didn't exist. and when i think of MLK & Ruby - who showed up, despite their skin color, to school & DC and marched and said, "i'm not following rules that shouldn't be.", i feel like i have a right to say the same. and when i look at Harvey Milk's story and think about my uncle who died of AIDS and who probably dealt with the same levels of hate and disdain even in Haight Ashbury where being homosexual wasn't abnormal, i think - why do they get any less of the pie? and i share my slice. and Jesus... when i see his hands getting dirty from drawing lines in the dirt and putting mud in blind eyes, i think - this is what church should be.
struggles. we connect with them. it's the same reason we feel inspired after we watch a movie like the king's speech and unaffected after we watch a rom com with the biggest pay off being a false happy ending.
we wouldn't taste the goodness of being alive nearly as much, if it wasn't bitter every now and again. so i'm thankful for every heart ache. every failure. every embarrassment. because i am alive and it means everything's working and moving and growing and most importantly... it means i'm trying.
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