What if?

When tragedy suddenly and fiercely bears down on a community or a nation, people look for answers. I doubt that there is ever a satisfactory answer to the question of “Why?” What explanation is ever good enough for the loss of a precious life? There is a question of “What if” that perhaps may help with preventing future events of evil.

What if a community turned in on itself to love one another?  Not with a passive love, only a proactive, inconvenient love can truly combat hate and evil.  Instead of turning to a governmental power, or professional entity for help, we would take pride in caring for our own.  

What if we saw a problem and became peacemakers instead of people that placate (one does what is needed for real peace, the other appeases to smooth over an issue but doesn’t necessarily fix the problem)?  This would imply that we have to know our neighbors, to love them and to be willing to get in their business, or worse, to allow them into ours. What if we weren’t concerned with the messiness implied in really knowing our neighbors?

What if we had a history of kindness with a person before we pointed out a flaw?

What if we ruthlessly loved people so that there is no doubt that love is the motive of the addressing person, making it perhaps a little easier to receive correction as the instigator?

What if we stopped blaming “things” as evil, but address the heart of the issue?

What if we remember that love is not just a good feeling but often has to be fought for?

What if grace (getting what I do not deserve) and mercy (not getting what I deserve) were not just actions I demand or desire from others, but became the characteristics of a lifestyle that I extend to others?

What if we created an atmosphere for people to be honest about their issues, so that they could then begin to address them? What if this didn’t take place in a secret AA meeting, or in the expensive office of a psychologist, but this conversation begins in a neighbor’s home where people sit side to side as equals?

What if I didn't ask these questions because I knew that I would have pressure from my peers to prove I really want answers?

I am sure that there are tons of people who have already asked these questions (perhaps even determined them to void of substance) and are already on this road to actively finding answers but I don’t have the answers. These are the questions I am asking myself. I want more for my community, Modesto, than what we have currently settled for. Confession:  I definitely have the Type A personality, all in or nothing, so when I see huge problems that I cannot fix I don’t attempt to do anything. Or, I think if no one else is going to help, if this doesn’t become a “movement”, then trying to do anything by myself is futile.  However, I am now beginning to think that true community change cannot happen by a temporary movement or by an organization, but only when individuals seek answers to the social problems they are confronted with and then are willing to be uncomfortable and act accordingly. What if as situations come up, I will consider them opportunities, and not inconveniences, that I will have the audacity to claim love from a Higher Power, and be willing to be uncomfortable. It may take a while, and if you know me, then you know it is unlikely that I will ever come even close to perfecting any acts of love, I am flawed, but….what if I try?