As a law-educated interfaith chaplain and pastoral counselor who creates spaces for healing and reconciliation, it breaks my heart to be a witness to our disuniting United States.
It hurts because I know we have been better and can do better, but we have succumbed again to fear and paranoia to achieve a sense of nationalistic hubris. Within this breaking heart is also the knowledge the desire for unity lies at the core of our being and is an enduring aspect of who we are and want to be.
I often hear us lament about our divisiveness but with few solutions. What can we do during these holidays to help move from being disunited to reunited? Be mindful of and grateful for the fact that we still have the right to assemble and the ability to bond and attach to others across our differences.
Fortunately, it is our innate nature to bond and attach to others. When we hesitate, we usually push past those hindrances without being aware that we did so. Why? Our survival depends on our ability to connect across our countless differences.
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Put another way, our first nature is to bond, our second nature is to detach. It hurts to see people live beneath their potential, but it is cause for celebration when we overcome our alienation.
Deep down in our national psyche, because we have a holiday season culture that creates healing and reconciliation spaces for gratitude, generosity and new beginnings, we have another opportunity for collectively addressing our alienation. Will we?
With all the relational challenges before us, let’s squarely face our disconnection and resolve to thicken our ties to bond and attach. If we don’t strengthen our fraying ties that barely bind, our words of gratitude, generosity and renewal will clang hollow rather than ring hallowed. Being grateful for these rights, privileges and abilities while acknowledging the ways they are at risk may be what motivates us to strengthen the ties that bind.
Pamela Ayo Yetunde, doctor of theology, East Village
If President Jimmy Carter were a Catholic, he would be a candidate for sainthood. I can't think of many public figures who spent their lives doing more good than Carter. His moral values and character will be sorely missed in these times.
Richard Keslinke, Algonquin
Mayor Brandon Johnson needs money for the city, so is that the reason his office gave the OK for the Pilsen metal scrapper despite local citizen protests? As if Pilsen is not polluted enough. I suggest Sims move the business to Johnson’s neighborhood instead, although that community might be too polluted already. Whatever, move the business out of Pilsen.
Janice Gintzler, Crestwood
