“Tortoises can tell you more about the road than hares.” Khalil Gibran.

I want to honor a friend who passed on to the next great adventure in life. Gary Harrison found comfort in the writer Khalil Gibran. He discovered him in prison and multiple times in a drunken stupor, Gary would quote to me words written by Khalil. I did not find them significant at the time. I observed the annunciation of those words simply as the ramblings of a tortured tired alcoholic.  Years later, my rediscovery of Gibran has led me to appreciate even more deeply the times I spent with my friend. 

Time. Depending on the context it can move swiftly or appear to have come to a halt. It is interesting at what points of life and even in a day we are cognizant about time. There are experiences of suffering in which we want time to move quickly and then there are those moments of enjoyment and pleasure when we desire time to come to a halt as we enjoy the beauty of the face, the aroma which dances upon our nostrils, or music upon our ears. We should want to take time and pay attention to what excites our senses. The precarious nature of Life should lead us to stop running or even briskly walking because of what can be missed. 

​A tortoise approach to life is not bad for our mental, emotional, or physical wellbeing. The ability to move slowly and dare I say pause, can offer the opportunities to see a little bit more clearly.  When I move fast, I will miss things. Variables which if I had taken the “time” to pay attention would have offered me more information to make a better decision or chosen different words. I can move like the hare. I can swiftly and decisively but is that or will that always be the case? My culture celebrates the hare because it appears flashy, exciting, and the take charge personality. The hare moves bounding from one point to the next arriving at its destination with the appearance of strength. Yet what if, over the journey, the hare missed the “why” of the journey? What if over the race of life, the tortoise discovered the answer to one of those profound questions such as “Why are we on this road to begin with?” Or “Why is this journey even framed as a competition?” Gibran saw a lesson of life in the slow moving tortoise which can be a helpful instructive to human beings, especially in the West. Slow down. Yes, accomplish what you have set as goals and move towards those goals not with break neck speed all the time.

Take moments to slow down, breathe, study the blade of grass, and the uneven nature of the road. The wise man or woman who has a better knowledge of the road will know when to move like a tortoise and then like a hare. 

You expose yourself in complete nakedness. I’m not  referring to the exposure of your physical body rather the clothed aspects of your mental and emotional wellbeing. Hidden behind the walls or boundaries meant to protect your true self, without hesitation those protections fall. 

​The manner in which you communicate is now different as you ask questions which will hopefully reveal more of yourself. Every word you offer and every thought which races through your mind are meant to increase vulnerability allowing the entrance of whose embrace you have resisted. 

Why would you choose to be naked? Why would you choose to reveal the innermost parts of yourself with the possibility of being abandoned and broken? 

Why would you choose love? 

I imagine we choose love because the alternative is becoming a person who is dispassionate and psychopathic. An individual who has closed the self off to the world and all of the beautiful tragedies which create empathy. The alternative is an individual in his or her own personal perdition. A life absent of love is pain and suffering consuming the individual and in time rolling like a devastating agony upon the lives others.​
Why should you love? You should love because the joy and pain found in the experience is a far greater expression of human dignity than the agony of remaining clothed. 

Maybe it is a portion of the human experience to reflect on suffering and the lack within our daily lives. Such a reflection can influence how each of us approach life and how we will go about creating for ourselves an environment in which gratitude becomes commonplace. How hard do we have to work in order to have a mindset of gratitude? 

All around us are examples of technological advancements which have created ease within our lives. Our level of knowledge and accumulation of wisdom due to previous failures contributes to our ability to create in new ways. My ability to be grateful does not come easily and I can imagine there are millions of other men and women who wrestle with cultivating such an attitude and activity.  I wrestle with the attitude and while my adversary is working my mind and my body to have me submit and thus produce a hopeful way of looking at life, I contend with my full being. At some point the sun is going to rise and gratitude will execute some maneuver which will lead me to limp and find gratitude in the fact more could have been done to change my mind. It was the wrestling and difficulty which while humbling my being produced in me a level of gratitude because so much more could have been taken from me during the experience. 

So, while I should not compare my situation to another, I have to look over and observe my neighbor. “He left with not only a limp but also the loss of one eye.” I look behind me and see my other neighbor who limps but also has lost her home. Gratitude finds a way even with all of my technological knowledge and what I thought was a high degree of intelligence to humble my mind and cause me to announce in some manner, “Thank you for what I do have.” 

Secondly, gratitude leads us to focus inwardly and at some point each of us should take the moment to look outwardly and the development of our environmental circumstances. Surely, we should rejoice that the movement of our own bodies or the products we have produced are no longer conducted with our bodies solely. Centuries have passed and the ability to transport has moved from months, to weeks, to days, and now to hours. At some point in our future, as knowledge increases, creativity is stimulated, our ability to move from one fixed point to another will be in the matter of minutes. Imagine the profound impact such an advancement will have on the quality of life of individuals in terms of education, movement of food, and an event so critical as seeing a loved one for his or her final moments before transcending this earthly coil.

​The opportunities for gratitude are numerous and we should pursue being less busy at times to simply pause and reflect on what we do possess, how far we have come as a human race, and the possibilities which lay before us. 

I received the text on Saturday July 14, 2024 at 5:45 pm. “Trump got shot at.” I turned on my television and watched the replay of the assassination attempt. My immediate reaction was not concern for the welfare of the former President. Immediately my mind went to the state of our country. Silently, I have feared such an event could be possible in country.  Events which are more common place in Third World countries and unstable nations, are slowly becoming more common place in our country. 

In other places and other times I have written on the importance of civility.  Civility is a necessary to resolve conflicts and develop actionable solutions which are in accordance with human flourishing and human decency. As a virtue, our ability to practice civility can be invigorated by reminding ourselves each individual and group with whom we have interaction possesses a rich dignity. Our human dignity is a reflection of the imago Dei and the possession of this dignity is not limited to social, economic, political, or religious affiliation rather such possession is the reality of all persons from conception. If we allow the richness of our humanity to mediate our conversations with each other, either face to face or on social media, imagine the possibilities for our small city, state, and nation.

Assassination attempts, mocking the elderly for diminishing mental and physical health, destroying public and private property in order to gain a hearing, are all manifestations of a culture which has lost sight of human dignity and human flourishing. In our pursuit for such experiences like freedom, equality, equity, or justice, the easier and more damaging roads of verbal and physical violence are becoming the paths of choice.  There is no courage or honor in those who have chosen to navigate the roads of incivility taking as many citizen with them towards a devastating crash. Sadly, such decisions are those of wandering men and women who have lost focus and meaning for life. 
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Where are our eyes fixed as a nation? As human beings we are designed to move towards what our physical eyes have in sharp focus. As travelers need a fixed point or north star which will guide the navigational decisions, we as a nation need a fixed point.  It is a fixed which assists our efforts in decision making regarding the best direction for our local communities, states, and nation. Civility, in my estimation needs to be the star to which we point.  It is a star which does not consider gender, ethnicity, economic, or political class. Civility between citizens can offer a destination which will benefit as many individuals who are willing to take this road less traveled. 

Legacy. The word legacy is defined as the long lasting impact of particular events, action, etc., that took place in the past or in someone’s life. I have heard the work legacy mentioned multiple times this year. I can possibly chalk it up to my age, I have crossed the threshold of fifty-years. The first portion of the definition considers time or duration of the phenomenon under consideration. There is a “long lasting…” impact of the phenomenon. The phenomenon stretches from a point of origin. At a particular period, an action was taken with intention which proceeded further than what was originally considered. The action taken considered multiple variables and as a result, its impact has a length stretching beyond its original point because of the influence on individual and other groups of people.

A small boat on a still pond can be propelled forward with the appropriate action. When a stone is thrown into a pond the connection between water and stone is immediately observed. The small child who has picked up the stone and hurled it towards the still water will see the splash and the resulting growth of ripples. The child sees larger and larger ripples until the pond enters into a new state of stillness. This illustration aids our understanding of the word “impact.” Impact has two definitions. Impact is defined first as, “the action of one object coming forcibly into contact with another.” The second definition of impact which aids our understanding of legacy, “to have as strong effect on someone or something.”

Individuals in the course of life come into contact with someone or something else. There are an infinite number of reasons as to why these interactions occur. We have a high degree of certainty the opportunities of contact will result in some degree of change for the individuals involved or the object acted upon by the individual. Each day individuals live as agents actively and passively creating impact. Individuals who come in contact with each other have the opportunity to effect some type of change which will create ripple effects in the life of another.

Living in Conway I have determined to live in such a manner there is a significant impact and lasting legacy for individuals and families who have had no opportunities or limited opportunities. Housing is one of those opportunities, a small ship on a pond called Conway, needing a stone thrown in the waters to create opportunities of human flourishing. It is my hope, as we increase quality and affordable housing for our neighbors in Conway, the city as a whole would experience the ripple effects of compassion. CoHO Hope Village will be one of those stones. The men, women, and children who I have had the opportunity to serve related to educational and housing opportunities, gathering people to discuss hard topics, and in a
larger way celebrate our beautiful humanity has been and continues to be a privilege.

Here is my encouragement to you today and I hope this inspires you to look at where you live and see what legacy you can create. Identify something in front of you that is heavy. Put it on your shoulders and take one small step in front of the other.  It will be difficult and you will have onlookers who are inspired to cheer and in some moments help you carry the load. Carry the heavy object in a manner that requires your focus, your drive, and if need be, your very life. Live in such way that when you pass from this mortal coil you leave both an example and substantive change that impacts those coming behind you. 

Am I not a man and brother?
Ought I not, then, to be free?
Sell me not to one another,
Take not thus my liberty.
Christ our Savior, Christ our Savior,
Died for me as well as thee.


Am I not a man and brother?
Have I not a soul to save?
Oh, do not my spirit smother,
Making me a wretched slave;
God of mercy, God of mercy,
Let me fill a freeman's grave!


  
As I reflect over the words of the proclamation carried by General Granger, these words standout to me.  “This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.” Encapsulated in this order was the medicine needed for a racially sick country which held people as product. A country whose body was torn apart by a cancer of racism and revealed itself in a destructive Civil War. A change was moving throughout the nation and the answer to the question, “Am I not a man and brother” was to be answered. 


General Order #3 announced you are “a man and a brother” by stating a change in relationship as the freedman and woman were to be viewed as possessing equality in terms of existence and ownership. We are unique and unrepeatable human beings. We are human beings marked with royalty and the potentiality to live remarkably.  This is an absolute quality which can not be diminished by any legislation, incarceration, or dehumanization.  Juneteenth marks a celebration in which the ears of black and white skinned human beings would hear an absolute truth, “You are equal.”  


General Order #3 announced you are “a man and a brother” by stating a change in relationship between masters and slaves.  Previous to the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation the relationship between these persons was one of White personhood and Black commodity. White personhood was able to participate freely in the economic, social, and political development of the small infantile nation. Whereas Black bodies were commodities, bought, trade, and sold to accomplish the development, cultivation, and sustainment of the new Egypt.  Black bodies and White personhood related to one another in the form of a transaction in which White personhood extracted the emotional, physical, and spiritual capital from Black bodies to create a structure which would benefit the power of White Egypt. With the announcement on Juneteenth, Black bodies experienced a change of relationship as they heard they were qualitatively the same as their White counterparts. We are not commodities and cattle to be auctioned. We are creatures and a collective mass of human beings who can create, labor and earn a wage.  


General Order #3 finally announced a change in relationship as participants in the market place. General Granger’s Order #3 impacts approximately 250,000 slaves in Texas according to Dr. Henry Louis Gates.  The impact of a quarter of a million persons learning they would no longer be existing and functioning as free labor is without measure. Consider for a moment if 10% of these persons now have the opportunity to work, negotiate a price for labor, and receive compensation for that labor. The terms of slave and master begin to erode in Texas and the South for our common terms of employer and laborer.  These persons now have the opportunity to function as laborers and dare we say new entrepreneurs who would lay the foundations for great enterprise efforts such Black Wall Street, Madame Cj Walker, and others. Our participation in the marketplace requires a reevaluation of our economic education and the support of more entrepreneurs who will own businesses and not simply patronize a business.


This qualitative change in relationship among Whites and Blacks, the labor context, and market place did not come without its challenges.  There was and there would be opposition. Sharecropping, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow were all forms of opposition to the good news “We are human beings.” Opposition arises from those who benefit from the status quo. The beneficiaries of the status quo act out of fear over the loss of security, comfort, and affluence.  Fear created the unjust economic practice of sharecropping.  Fear created the inequitable practice of the Homestead Act in the which the federal government supported White brothers and sisters seeking to make a new life West while Black freedmen and women struggled to move freely with economic shackles still around their ankles.  Yet it is the steady rain of heavenly plagues which begin to wash away the existing reality and reveal a fresh soil of new landscapes for many to enjoy. 


We are men, women, brothers and sisters. Juneteenth only affirms what is already in each and everyone of us. We are powerful and remarkable image bearers of God. We are men and women who have a long lineage which does not begin in chains and the bowels of slave ships. Our lives begin on West African shores, North African landscapes, and in the shadow of great pyramids. We have the intellect of kings, queens, scientist, theologians, and entrepreneurs. Thus our relationship to one another should be one of persons who are actively pursuing opportunities and partnerships which uplift the wellbeing of one another. We have come from different families. We have ancestors from different plantations but we are here now…together. We are here now. And just as our forefathers and foremothers huddled together for comfort and courage in dark fields to sing praises to God in whose image they were made. We need to rally together around common economic interest to achieve economic goals for the common good. Leave this place with an commitment to find your way to improve the social, economic, political, and religious situation of your fellow African American brother and sister. But not only them…let us commit to being a people who provide such an influence to the state of Arkansas and our nation all people will rise up and say with one loud voice… 


“We are men. We are women. We are sisters. We are brothers. We will all die free.” 

The situation of men and women who are experiencing homeless in our state and across the nation has become more apparent since the pandemic of 2020.  Individuals and families have fallen from situations of housing stability resulting from increased housing costs, medical problems, and an inability to find work commensurate to what was previously earned pre-pandemic. Men and women from various backgrounds are now in the lived experience of homelessness. In the state of Arkansas, 2,459 persons experience homelessness, finding some form of relief within either emergency shelters or transitional housing (HUD 2022, Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance Program Data). The lived experience of homelessness is a touch point regardless of gender, ethnicity, or health situation. 

​Persons who are experiencing homelessness possess what John F. Crosby describes as being “persons who are unrepeatable” (Crosby, 2019).  Individual persons who have found themselves standing on street corners to secure coins for hotel stays, who are accessing various local nonprofit and faith based services in our county, or sitting in a public school, are not to be lost in the category of homelessness. These individual persons can not be replaced as objects nor ignored to satisfy our individual comforts. Rather, these persons possess an outstanding unrepeatable quality which translates into 2,459 individual stories and experiences.  Individuals who possess a dignity and richness which is obscured by our focus on the experience and the associated stereotypes. Crosby asks each of us to take a moment and look beneath the tired eyes, the aroma, and the disruptive classroom behavior to see the unique quality of the person before our eyes.

I was particularly moved the events in Memphis but I was not surprised.  The duly elected men of Memphis were charged with the authority and responsibility to serve as agents to reinforce safety and offer protection acted in manners which resembled hyenas descending upon a vulnerable cub.  Even now in my description, I have ventured into the realm of dehumanization.  The event was not surprising but has actually startled me as a growing empathy was for those who left their own humanity for reasons we have yet to fully comprehend. 

A thriving pluralistic society depends on healthy interactions between individuals who are similar yet different.  In our society, we are similar and I believe this to be so on the basis of our shared humanity. Human beings possessing the imago Dei and as such are persons. Romano Guardini, stated, “ “person” means that I cannot replaced by anyone else, that I am unique.” Individuals traversing our world are unique persons who are invaluable and possess a place in this vast adventure of life. Simultaneously, individuals are different. I am unique. You are unique. You and I diverge on the road of life to pursue interests, ideas, loves, and passions to discover purpose and meaning. The beauty of the human experience occurs when individuals with shared attributes and dissimilar interest come together to accomplish small and great feats. A more important feat occurs when individuals establish a relationship of mutuality and trust. I would hope individuals would see humanity in one another. 
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Our nation, and I really do not want to sound hyperbolic, is facing a crisis of humanity.  There is a strong possibility this crisis has a strong correlation to the events of the past few years. Separation, millions confronting mortality, and increased mental health difficulties, have obscured our vision of the individual next door. The necessity of healthy social relationships have proved beneficial to the flourishing of a human being, yet when interrupted or threatened, problems can arise.   Our perception of the individual who shares not only DNA but the fundamental character of being can not be clearly seen and as such, individuals choose to respond in ways, which in the long term, can prove detrimental.

Karol Wojtyla (1920-2005) noted personalist philosopher, who was canonized as Pope Saint John Paul II from 1978-2005, committed himself to the affirmation of the dignity and worth of human beings. Human beings created in the image of God who are called to full fellowship in the life of our generous God.  Wojtyla identifies the moral actions of a person cultivate experiences of growth in him or herself. The human experience is a combination of an individual acting and acting upon another. The person discovers the core of who he or she is by freely acting in accordance with truth and the reality of our world. 

Now as human beings we experience our individual existence in the context of some type of organization.  Human flourishing depends on interpersonal relationships which include the free exchange of information and material. As image bearers of God we live in a tension between unique individuality and shared participation within some type of organized group.  The individual recognizes his or her unique existence and chooses to offer unique contributions in support of the group, more acutely in support of the flourishing of the other. Human beings freely acting for personal and group benefit maintains "the attitude that allows man to find the fulfillment of himself in complementing others" (Wojtyla, p. 284-285). 

This coming year as you attend your daily activities, reflect on the dignity you possess as a human being created in the image of God. The capacity you possess to act in manners which correspond to truth can have significant ramifications on the growth of your personal life and equally shape how you view men and women who are experiencing the most difficult of circumstances. Pope Saint John Paul II reminds individuals of a significant truth regarding our existence as human beings and prayerfully, I hope this truth would stir the reader to act in ways which demonstrate growth in the and the promotion of generosity to those less fortunate wherever you live.


Note: 

Wojtyla, K. (1979). The Acting Person. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Company.