"Not My Problem, Part 3" - Monday Moment - May 29, 2023

Happy Monday, my friends! For the last two weeks we’ve been discussing how we declare that something is “not my problem.” In one sense it is healthy to remove ourselves and our energy from the drama of people around us; to say “that’s your shit” and move on. In another sense, though, we can see how saying something isn’t our problem is an excuse; an attempted moral exemption from acting in the best interests of our neighbors and working for our collective liberation. Taken yet another step further, dominant groups and privileged classes decide that because it’s not their problem and it doesn’t affect them that they can take away the rights of whole groups of people because why would anyone need to do something different than how the dominant group does something?

When privileged groups decide that something is not their problem, it becomes exceptionally easy to marginalize and dehumanize other people. Dominant groups say, I’m not a woman, we don’t need to protect bodily autonomy. I’m not BIPOC and I’ve never experienced racism, so we don’t need to address racism. I’m not Queer, so why should we recognize same-gender marriage or teach about LGBTQIA+ identities in schools? Of course, dominant groups are rarely that blunt so what they say is more like: Well, if you don’t want to get pregnant then don’t have sex. If you haven’t broken the law, then you don’t need to fear police officers. Well, you can choose to be straight, and God can help.

Compounded over centuries and millennia, these general observations—if it doesn’t apply to me, why does anyone need it—have created institutional structures which are not only built to exclude marginalized people, but are built so that marginalized people fail. Racist policies continue to funnel BIPOC children, particularly Black children, into schools designed by other racist policies to underperform and then into a pipeline through a racist criminal “justice” system to prisons and finally to cycles of poverty and further incarceration. And while Christianity aligning itself with conservative politics may be an innovation of the 20th and 21st centuries, Christianity dominated—read, was one in the same—European politics and government for the better part of the fall of the Roman empire to the French Revolution. During that period of European colonialism, European-conveyed homophobia and heteronormativity gained strong footholds in law around the world.

Where do see the attitude of “not my problem” still showing up in your life and community? How does this legacy impact or not impact you.

Let us pray: God, give us the strength and the resolve to challenge and tear down the systems of oppression which have been built into our systems. Empower us to act. Keep us speaking, acting up, and making good trouble. Don’t give us patience, convict us to action. And, yes, God, if needed help find money for bail. We ask this through your son, our model of a righteous troublemaker. Amen.

Blessings on your week, my friends! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Faithfully,

Ben

"Not My Problem, Part 2" - Monday Moment - May 22, 2023

Happy Monday, my friends! Last week I tried to make the point that it can be healthy to say that something “isn’t my problem” when we have become entangled in someone else’s drama. We need to recognize those times when we’ve gotten too involved. We also need to recognize when a situation is someone else’s shit, not ours. It can be imperative in those moments for us to walk away because it really isn’t our problem. However, saying “it’s not my problem” can be…well…problematic too in increasingly problematic ways.

The problems start when we ignore issues because they don’t affect us or impact our lives. Many, if not all of us, have simply become desensitized to many issues. Sure, the situation at the US southern border is a human rights calamity of epic proportions, but how does that impact my life in Central Ohio? The war in Ukraine is a similar case, though there our government seems to exercise more compassion because those folks are white, but I digress. Closer to home it is also easy to look at situations and wonder how those are our problem unless they impact us directly. Why are laws and policy about what is taught in K-12 education my problem? I don’t have children and I don’t work in education. Why do I need to worry about laws affecting Medicare or social security? I’m not—yet—a senior citizen. The list goes on.

We are easily reminded of the words of the German theologian and pastor Martin Niemöller: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.” When challenged with the question “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37). Jesus calls on us to see our neighbors as all the people around us whether their lives impact our life or whether their situations have relevance to our lives. Fannie Lou Hamer put it this way, “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.

Who are your neighbors? How are you contributing to everyone’s collective liberation?

Let us pray: God, compel us to see our neighbor in each of the people around us. Make their problems our problems and our problems their problems. Move us to never settle for our own comfort until everyone is truly free. We ask this in the name of your son who has never stopped working because your children are not yet free. Amen.

Blessings on your week, my friends! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Faithfully,

Ben

"Not My Problem, Part 1" - Monday Moment - May 15, 2023

Happy Monday, friends! Because of the work I do and because my interests are follow a fairly activist bent, I get a ton of emails asking me to sign petitions, attend demonstrations, contribute to, write a letter for, or take some sort of action for a particular cause. Approximately, 60% of time I think, “Yes, I need to do something about that!” or “That’s a great prospective, how can I add it to what I’m/we’re already doing?” Maybe 35% of the time I think, “that’s a great cause and I’m glad someone’s working on it, but I/we don’t have the capacity to get involved.” Finally, about 5% of the time I think, “who the hell cares about that and why is someone dedicating energy to that when we have <insert a litany of attacks against Queer people, BIPOC people, women, the general threat of gun violence, hunger, poverty, and homelessness>?” A few days ago, I received an email from Change.org alerting me to a petition about cats being declawed.

On that particular day I was tired, stressed, trying to get caught up on work, and had hopelessness buzzing around my head. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the petition and thought, “that’s got to be a joke?” I read the message, complete with a photo of a sad-looking cat and the words, “Declawing is amputation, whether performed by scalpel, clippers, or laser.” I won’t repeat the string of obscenities I shouted at my computer screen, but I had a visceral reaction. Regaining my composure and admitting that my reaction was more extra than I meant it to be, I was drawn into reflecting on that reaction.

Yes, as a Queer person who believes that his faith moves him to socially just action, I believe that there are bigger issues with greater repercussions than declawing cats. However, for someone else, that is their major policy issue right now. I know for a fact that there are many people who can’t understand why I support the issues I do or why I approach those issues from a certain perspective. As humans we are almost hardwired to involve ourselves in the work, lives, and drama of other humans. So, we tell ourselves that it’s not our problem and we do our best to rest assured that it really isn’t our problem. We push the matter aside and move on with our business. This is a healthy approach, right? Let’s attend to ourselves and leave other people alone. It’s not our problem.

When have you involved yourself in someone else’s business? In someone else’s drama?

Let us pray: God, support each one of us in our business. Help us resist the temptation to involve ourselves where we need not be. Keep us out of needless drama. Help us see where our perspectives are welcome and those times that others should speak. Remind us that there is much work in bending the arc towards justice and we cannot do everything. We ask this because alone we struggle to know that every problem is not our problem. Amen.

Blessings on your week, my friends! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Faithfully,

Ben