Plain Dealer guest columnist
February 17, 2012 at 8:00 PM
Time magazine dubbed "The Protester" its 2011 "Person of the Year." A promotional phrase accompanied this proclamation: "In 2011, protesters didn't just voice their complaints; they changed the world."
Sadly, this grand claim sounds hollow to me. Granted, Time did not qualify the "change" as positive or negative. The periodical chronicled protests from North Africa to Europe to the United States and Russia.
Neither the world nor this country has changed positively enough, in my opinion. There remains too much unemployment, too much poverty, too much criminal injustice, too much xenophobia and oppression, too much political discord, ineffectiveness and corruption. Too much, too much, too much -- clearly, I lament.
Four days after St. Valentine's Day, I ponder "love" in the face of human suffering and moral frailty. On this annual occasion when we exchange tokens of affection, two other types of love come to mind.
The first is the love of self and the second, the love of money. Two Greek words, philautos and philargyros, succinctly express these concepts. Both, I detect, lie at the root of the world's problems. Certainly, this diagnosis is not novel. Why then are these destructive personality traits chronic in the human experience? Further, why are people who possess these attributes permitted to run rampant through communities and societies to the detriment of the greater population? The Protester seeks to curb the second phenomenon.
Ponder Micah 6:8. : "O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
The Protester is an excellent embodiment of this passage. Faith requires action. Action must point toward justice and be undergirded by love. A love of self is required, but so too is a love of others, and a love of kindness or noble deeds.
Generally, most people perceive economic suffering as a minority class phenomenon, especially amid national prosperity. For the indifferent and disconnected, the thought goes that poverty affects only those on the edge of society. Before scarcity took up residence on Main Street, even the well-off should have protested the mere existence of destitution.
Protesting, in addition to the time-honored religious tradition of giving alms -- also known as charity -- would have been an appropriate demonstration of doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with our God. Ethical and equitable business practices serve as an even greater display of the divine edict. Love -- altruistic and brotherly -- is a fundamental ingredient for human success and social thriving.
As I see it, the well-prepared, properly informed, strategically organized, nonviolent Protester seeks to increase the productivity of his or her nation through the modification of systems and policies that hinder the greatest expression of holistic prosperity for the greatest number of people.
One final element of the three-part requirement for human conduct found in Micah is walking humbly. For the conservatively inclined, the notion of humility requires subjugation to external forces whatever they may be. I, however, urge another view. A quick check of the etymology of "humble" also yields "on the ground," a phrase that often means at the grass-roots level.
Essentially, protesters' "groundedness " prompts their very public protest. Personal financial strains and a grave sense of systemic unfairness activate their civil disobedience.
Social justice protests represent the love of self and love of others. Events of 2011 brought to life the conundrum posed by the divine edict "to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."
It would seem that the first obligation -- doing justice -- and third -- walking humbly with our God -- demand mutual exclusivity. This is not so when the second prerequisite, to "love kindness" or to love good conduct, serves as a bridge between the other two. Micah 6:8 shines light on obscure but precious keys to sustainable nation-building.
Leah C.K. Lewis, J.D., M.Div., D.Min., (ABD), is a minister, councilwoman, author, animation producer, and literary activist. She recently completed her dissertation on sex and sexuality in the African American Baptist Church and a manuscript on legal, religious, and political rhetoric pertinent to “race.” Follow her @HumanStriving and on SoundCloud.com/Reverend-Leah-CK-Lewis.
http://www.cleveland.com/religion/index.ssf/2012/02/protest_where_justice_and_obed.html
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