The news over the past several weeks has been hard to stomach. Wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Failed leadership in Congress. And now the first mass shooting in Maine, the 565th mass shooting in the US this year.
Not to mention the dangerous heating of the planet, and the poisoning of our lands and waters with toxics. Where are we headed? You might be asking.
My answer to that question is that we need to double down on faith. One of my favorite bible quotes is the one where Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is within you.”
What this means to me is that there’s a kernel of heaven, a nugget of truth and love, within every person. This nugget might be hard to see through the fear, hate, greed and political calculations on public display. But, as an advocate, I know it is my job to find it.
To be effective in advocacy work, it’s important to see decision makers as human beings with heart. From experience I can tell you that authentic stories and events told by real people are the best tools we have to reach the hearts of decision makers.
We had a great example of this in Maine last week. Rep. Jared Golden won his election to Congress based in part on his stand for gun rights. Maine has a high level of gun ownership, because of our long hunting tradition. So Golden made a political calculation by running campaign ads showing him firing a high powered rifle on TV.
But then, after a mass shooting in Maine last week, Golden did something seldom seen in politics: he apologized.
“I ask for your forgiveness”, he said in addressing voters. “I was wrong to think that citizens should have free access to weapons of war.”
The mass shooting last week killed 18 people in Golden’s home town. This touched his heart and he changed his position. He promised to work in Congress to ban assault weapons (which are never used for hunting by the way).
Similarly, farmers in Maine who’ve lost their livelihoods due to PFAS pollution have told their stories to legislators. PFAS, a family of toxic chemicals, was found in municipal sludge used as fertilizer on farm fields.
The farmers’ stories touched the hearts of decision makers and resulted in bipartisan support for banning the chemicals. Even legislators who typically oppose any form of regulation have supported the farmers. Now a national movement to ban these chemicals is underway, with Maine in the lead.
Our faith in people must continue and it must grow. It starts with admitting our humanity, and listening to understand the human experience of others.
We must begin where we are. This means listening to family members, colleagues, and to people who hold different views from our own. What was their experience? Why do they feel the way they do?
It takes an open mind and a spirit of curiosity to truly hear the stories of others. It takes not rushing to judgement, but hearing people out. The work of this can be slow and frustrating at times.
But if we can stay on course and do this work, we will be a step closer to a world that can listen and respond.
And if we can truly listen and respond, we just might solve an issue before it becomes a life and death crisis. This I believe, is what all of us are called to do in this critical time.