new humanity

There is a lot going on in my head, and I think the mix is brewing to something bigger, but it's not there yet and writing helps me sort it out while simultaneously recording the rabbit trails. Because you never know which tangent will turn into something more substantial (having real existence; something of substance, essential nature), something tangible (able to be realized or dealt with).

I want to talk about humanity. About recognizing those around us as fellow beings infused with the divine spark. About looking past the barriers we construct or those that have been constructed for us to see the truth: not color, not citizenship, not profession, not political or religious view. Instead, to tear down those "DIFFERENT FROM ME" walls and see the similarities.
Instead of fear or hatred or apathy, to be filled with love and compassion.
com + pati to suffer together.

Today I served tea to a prostitute and her client.
It left a scar on me, but my coworkers mainly responded with amusement and took turns walking through the lobby to see the "show".

She is my sister, and it breaks my heart. When she was a little girl, what did she dream? What did she want to be when she grew up?


Truly seeing each other is painful, and it is easier to keep the walls up. But can we enter the pain, and cross through it, and find life? Find a new humanity? A humanity that sees the similarities before the differences, a humanity whose base is that the "other" is just like me -- a bearer of the divine image.
"Only on love's terrible other side is found the place where the lion and lamb reside." (M. L'Engle, The Other Side of the Sun )

And--in all my righteous anger over the exploitation of women and sex and the human body, and institutionalized, systematic dehumanization by prostitution, slavery, torture, pornography, addiction, etc.--can I see the man who pays for a night with her as a fellow image-bearer, too? Can I extend grace to my fellow divine sparks who are bathed in apathy, cushioned by thick walls that provide easy labels to avoid the pain of re-humanizing the world?

"This one, too, this person Jesus died for. This is a child of God. How can I hate this person? God loves him. How can I fear this person? God treasures her."
(qtd. in Being White, Paula Harris and Doug Schaupp)

this is the only way. get particular. get down to the individual level, to the nitty-gritty, and wear glasses of love. this is how things change -- racism, sexism, classism, discrimination and division and inhumanity of any kind. this is how we bring heaven to earth.