“Joy can spring like a flower even from the cliffs of despair” wrote author and aviator Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Is it possible? Can joy ever spring from the cliffs of despair?
I remember despair emerging as I heard responses by government officials when military-style guns were used in school shootings, at concerts, in synagogues / temples / churches, at sports events, in malls: “It’s too early – we don’t have all the facts” … “Now is not the time.” It’s a fact that military-style guns are used in mass shootings. If “now” is not the time, when will it be?
When the U.S. Constitution was signed, the weapon referred to was a rifle that could shoot 1-2 rounds per minute. The gun used in many shootings (A-15 style firearm) fires 45 rounds per minute! Why legalize such firearm? Get rid of them – learn from other countries like Australia which changed its laws in 1996. When that country enacted strict gun laws, there were no further mass shootings. Not one!
There is evil in the hearts of those who won’t support strict, enforceable gun laws. There is evil of the hearts of politicians who do nothing to protect human beings, but rather increase their investment portfolios by investing in the manufacture of military-style guns, and mumbling phrases about they didn’t want to lose their guns. No one is talking about the loss of guns for hunting, self-protection. It’s about the use of military-style guns.
The word “evil” doesn’t stop with politicians or with those who won’t support enforcing gun laws against military-style guns. The evil has spread as signs appeared at college campuses that read “Women are Property!” … as young men harass girls and young women with frightening shouts of “Your body. My choice!”
Evil. So why does this ‘Soulistry’ reflection speak of flowers?
Flowers have long been understood as one of the most recognized signs of love. I will always choose the path of love. I have been making and sending Fabric Flowers like these to those who are trying to find peace and joy in the midst of evil … and because I want to stand up for love – not evil. As our postal system is on rotating strikes, I’m no longer sending Fabric Flowers in person. Instead, I’m sending emails with a photo of the Fabric Flowers – as a visible sign. A visible sign of love. A visible sign of prayer. A visible sign for courage and support. A visible sign that there are people who stand with them, support them, love them.
Can “joy spring like a flower even from the depths of despair”? It can. But for that to happen, evil must be named.
Some Christians claim that what is happening is “God’s will.” I ask “what kind of God would sanction evil?” No the man known a Jesus. Jesus confronted and named evil, long ago. We must name evil today.
Along those lines, here’s something to think about … when the letters: E V I L are reversed, they become L I V E. Evil must be named, confronted and challenged so change can happen and all can l i v e.
As with all ‘Soulistry reflections, you are welcome and invited to share this with others and send a photo of the Fabric Flowers (or make your own!) with your own personal message. May joy spring like a flower – even from the depths of despair.
© June Maffin
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You are a light amid darkness, June. Thanks so much for this post.
Thank you for your kind comment, Pamela.
From your lips to God’s ear!
May it be so, Bobbie. 🙂 Thanks for your comment.
Ah, had read this before I sent my nature response, I might have said something much different. I do see a connection between the beauty of nature and the good in the world. Evil? How do we deal with it? How do we live with it? It is difficult and I don’t know the answer. What I do know is that I must, for my own soul, be kind, thoughtful, giving — and, yes, resilient. I have to believe that the light will shine, that good will win out else why keep on in this precious life of ours? DJT and JBD are NOT the loving and kind men I know in my life. It hurts to know that there are young men in our society who think of women as chattel, as property. Judy Small wrote a song about the 14 women murdered in Quebec — MY country, the country I was born in — because they were women enrolled in what was seen by that very disturbed man as a man’s profession. Will that happen again now? Praise god, NO.