We are all connected

I turned to writings and wisdom of Martin Luther King Jr., who of all people had reason to despair and disengage. He put it this way: We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. His words, so powerful in his time, are as powerful today, offering us a needed corrective to the rampant individualism that erodes our interdependence. The stark truth is that when we diminish one’s person humanity, we diminish our own.

So, my New Year’s resolution is to choose a road that acknowledges the fundamental principle that we are all connected. I choose the road of hope tied to action. I resolve to live myself into hope, into a better year.

What does that look like? It starts within my own soul and a conscious commitment to really see people beyond the societal labels assigned to them. It means I am determined to work for equity and justice believing I can make a difference. It means more kindness in each interaction and more listening to those whose views are different than my own. It means not letting bitterness or cynicism take root in me. It means turning my anger into the power of radical love.

What does it mean? What it does not mean that I am any less aware or look away from the rise of violent anti-Semitism across our nation exemplified by the stabbing on Hanukkah; the shooting in a Texas church that amplifies a message there is no sanctuary from gun violence; or the persistent vitriol that characterizes our national discourse … and any or all of the protests in Baghdad and worldwide, climate change, children in detention centers or the opioid crisis.

Instead, it means looking at my own actions first before pointing the finger at another. It means taking responsibility for my part in the state of the world and be willing to admit how my greed, complicity or silence have added to the suffering and division around me. The “other road” is not easy, but when I am courageous enough to walk that road, I am fully alive and deeply engaged in this wonderful and messy human journey.

The holidays are over and we return to the ordinary. But let the message resonate in all the great religious traditions “peace on Earth, good will to all” be our rallying cry, our organizing principle here in San Mateo County. How different it would feel — for all of us. What if we worked together, across all kinds of social boundaries, race divisions, class barriers, political affiliations and began to see each other as fully human and as belonging. I want to live in a county where all people’s dignity and worth are considered in the decision-making, and where there is not such a defined hierarchy of who is of worth. We all make up the tapestry of what it means to be human, tied together in a single garment of destiny. Good will to all — I resolve to work for that good will to all here in San Mateo County because that is the reality we can create right here, right now. 2020 is going to be a great year!

The Rev. Dr. G. Penny Nixon is the senior minister of the Congregational Church of San Mateo and co-director of the Peninsula Solidarity Cohort.