It is summer. Maybe you have an internship or some kind of job. You're making money, texting friends, enjoying some R&R after a school year or term of busy work. It's all fine and dandy for a few weeks. 'Adulting' seems novel and quite adventurous. But, then it all starts to feel very routine and despite everything: ordinary.
This topic may come as a surprise with the recent events of racism, systemic violence, reckless hate and grievous death. In fact, the one thing I do know since visiting my Facebook feed every few hours is that: ordinary life is fragile. But it is what we do in the moments of ordinary time that determine our ability to be extraordinary when the moment arises.
We must be forgiving.
We must seek the truth.
We must be courageous.
I mean courageous in Brene Brown's definition of courage as, 'Standing up and letting yourself be seen." Courage is really vulnerability. And vulnerability seems like a high and mighty calling, when it fact, the grit work of it is highly ordinary.
Will I take a few moments to hear someone's story? Will I take delight in my work today? Will I be curious when I would rather be afraid? Will I choose to love this person? Simple questions, but all of them are secretly calls to action.
Ordinary moments add up to our ability to act in difficult times. Look up reports from any disaster and you can bear witness to the unsung acts of many ordinary people who were just doing what was 'right' and 'human' and 'neighborly' to help others less able than themselves.
We are a small,ordinary people, but what can we do now to unite against that which threatens to tear us apart? I ask myself: will I write a letter? Will I share a post? Will I stand by my hashtags? Will I love my enemy? Will I reach out to those perceived as 'other'?" I know the answers to some of these questions, but I admit: I have reservations on some of them.
You may be contemplating on how to act or you may be thinking you've reached the stage of independant living with a job and you're thinking "Is this it?" As if in our less than five decades of life we have reached the pinnacle of existence. Perhaps we think "is this it?" because we have now reached the stage where the risks are greater and our choices have longer term, harder to get benefits. Instead of exams, we will be studying humility, curiosity, forgiveness and grace (to name a few in earnest). We may not ace the exam. That is why we need each other: it is one big study group on how to be human. And that is how we become extraordinary.
