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The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;... Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way. Say to those with fearful hearts: Be strong, do not fear; your God will come to save you. (Isaiah 35: 1-3)
I'd read that passage and reflected on it for several days, wondering how it could be tied to this month's holiday observances and my next column. June has several holidays: Flag Day, observed across the nation; Fathers Day, well known and much celebrated; and Juneteenth, perhaps less well-known and observed than the other two.
Some fathers of our acquaintance are still full of vigor; they help wobbly toddlers, bail us out of bad situations, coach sports. Others are in physical or mental decline, relying upon the strength of younger generations. Fathers Day is, quite rightly, an occasion to gather with family and honor the patriarch of the clan.
I'm not sure if there's a card acknowledging Juneteenth; if there isn't, there needs to be. The holiday dates back to the Emancipation Proclamation. To slaves, the proclamation must indeed have seemed like a blossom in the wilderness. It is a bloom which needs to be nurtured so its beauty will not fade.
Slavery takes many forms: addictions; bad domestic situations; stifling jobs; but freedom is not always a matter of will power or walking away. Then, there may be a "frying pan to fire" outcome to consider.
Some use religion as an ostrich uses sand and some tell the less fortunate their troubles would go away if they just had faith. It has been my experience that while faith does not, in and of itself, eliminate burdens, it may provide strength to make them bearable.
Maybe your dad cannot help your situation; our Heavenly Father can. That is not to say evil and misfortune will magically disappear; we must use our God-given free will to make wise choices, to battle and overcome oppression, depression and whatever evils beset us.
Be assured; the wilderness is blooming all around us and the beauty waits for us to see, acknowledge and appreciate.
Meanwhile, you can make a start by taking your dad to a Juneteenth celebration, wave your flag, proclaiming your patriotism and, should you be so inclined, lift high the banner of Christ.
On any given day, news stories involve: a rise in homelessness; greater frequency of drug abuse; suicides, particularly among LGBTQ persons; a dearth of affordable housing; mass incarceration of minority populations, etc. If one cares about humanity in the least, it is heartbreaking. It isn't even extraordinary for one person to be affected by several of these circumstances. This is just a "f'r instance" but not at all outside the realm of possibility: a minority kid comes out as trans, gets kicked out of parental home, purchases a small amount of controlled substance and gets arrested. Without money for bail, chances of any kind of future [outside "corrections" system] are pretty grim.
Several of the Democrats who have decided to run for President of United States, have made affordable housing part of their platforms. I'm glad it is getting attention and dare to hope it will bear significant fruit. Listening to NPR recently, I heard it reported that there are several occurrences of people who become homeless because they simply can no longer afford the rent. They did not start taking drugs or buy a new car or suffer a catastrophic illness - it was just their wages did not increase commensurately with expenses.
It is my belief these circumstances occur with greater regularity in a "right to work" economy. Getting rid of unions, which protect workers, and making everything about "what's good for business" is a sorry-ass way to run an economy or a country. Short-sighted people cannot seem to comprehend that what is good for business is to make sure workers are well taken care of. Workers are also consumers: they require a living wage so they can purchase the goods they make. They need job security; the assurance they won't be downsized because it is more profitable for their overlords to transfer jobs to a country so poor that what amounts to slave wages in the country of origin seems like a bonus to inhabitants of the more economically impoverished country. We simply must evolve into a global society, focused on taking care of each other; a society in which everyone has a place to live, enough food to eat, body autonomy: in plain language, human rights.
Right now, we are using resources at an alarming rate and destroying many which cannot be replenished. We must discipline ourselves to become responsible consumers, instead of gluttons. It has been said before, and is probably more true now than ever: the life you save, may be your own.
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[2019]On any given day, news stories involve: a rise in homelessness; greater frequency of drug abuse; suicides, particularly among LGBTQ persons; a dearth of affordable housing; mass incarceration of minority populations, etc. If one cares about humanity in the least, it is heartbreaking. It isn't even extraordinary for one person to be affected by several of these circumstances. This is just a "f'r instance" but not at all outside the realm of possibility: a minority kid comes out as trans, gets kicked out of parental home, purchases a small amount of controlled substance and gets arrested. Without money for bail, chances of any kind of future [outside "corrections" system] are pretty grim.
Several of the Democrats who have decided to run for President of United States, have made affordable housing part of their platforms. I'm glad it is getting attention and dare to hope it will bear significant fruit. Listening to NPR recently, I heard it reported that there are several occurrences of people who become homeless because they simply can no longer afford the rent. They did not start taking drugs or buy a new car or suffer a catastrophic illness - it was just their wages did not increase commensurately with expenses.
It is my belief these circumstances occur with greater regularity in a "right to work" economy. Getting rid of unions, which protect workers, and making everything about "what's good for business" is a sorry-ass way to run an economy or a country. Short-sighted people cannot seem to comprehend that what is good for business is to make sure workers are well taken care of. Workers are also consumers: they require a living wage so they can purchase the goods they make. They need job security; the assurance they won't be downsized because it is more profitable for their overlords to transfer jobs to a country so poor that what amounts to slave wages in the country of origin seems like a bonus to inhabitants of the more economically impoverished country. We simply must evolve into a global society, focused on taking care of each other; a society in which everyone has a place to live, enough food to eat, body autonomy: in plain language, human rights.
Right now, we are using resources at an alarming rate and destroying many which cannot be replenished. We must discipline ourselves to become responsible consumers, instead of gluttons. It has been said before, and is probably more true now than ever: the life you save, may be your own.
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