Hope

Have you read The Color Purple? If you are in prison in Texas, then you have not, as it is banned there (while Mein Kampf and books by KKK members are not banned-bah humbug). But I am not in prison in Texas, so I am re-reading this book, which I first read around age 19. At that time, some slightly older than me and erudite woman asked me what I was reading, and when I said The Color Purple she rolled her eyes and scoffed "ohhh". "I thought you read real literature". I was baffled then but am even more baffled now as I re-read it. It is well-crafted, hard to put down and did after all, win the Pulitzer prize. The thing is it is quite prescient. That is to say, it is scary how it still sings truth to a broken world that might even be slightly more broken than when I was 19.

But this post is not about despair, this post is about hope. As someone who has been struggling with my spiritual mooring for several years, born and bred a Lutheran (albeit a radical, left-leaning one) of many generations, and now mostly aghast at the words that come out of vocal American Christian mouths, I have been trying to figure out how to define my faith. Because I have it, I do. Alice Walker's character Shug Avery gave me some words for it, which I think I did not get the first time I read this book so many years ago:

“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it. People think pleasing God is all God cares about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.”
― Alice Walker, The Color Purple

She says a whole lot more on the subject, but I don't want to spoil this shiny part of the book for those who have not yet read it. Notice the word "it". Not "he", not "she".

Anyhow, I injured my hamstring but am still on my running streak, day 81 today. It has become like breathing. Sometimes it helps to remove the "if" and replace it with "what time, exactly" in life. Like, "if things get worse I will speak up" becomes "I will speak up at 2pm today, rain or shine, fire or flood, as my country is losing its soul while thinking it has gained the whole world."

Not my words, of course. Take it from the experts:






































Hope is not a plan, says Atul Gawande. He refers to planning during serious illness and in the last phase of life. But this quote is good for many occasions. The word hope derives from "to have confidence and trust in the future". Maybe related to "hop"--"leaping in expectation". Add to that a plan, and we are in business.

Hope: the world does not end because of climate change.
Plan: stop consuming so much.
Hope: my hamstring will heal despite my stubborn decision to continue my running streak.
Plan: do massage therapy, heat, ice, stretching, and use the evil foam roller.
Hope: that compassion will win in the end.
Plan: model compassion and vote out the assholes.
Hope: my community becomes healthier.
Plan: show up, face the inequities, and stop waiting for someone else to fix things.
Hope: my dog doesn't eat another entire bag of pistachios again today, or any day.
Plan: hide the pistachios in a poodle-proof bunker from now on.

Have you noticed the color purple?