the hungry future

This summer, I'm taking a series of mini-trips to visit family and friends in various spots in New England. I try to be a welcome guest by 1) bringing a lot of delicious homemade food and 2) being present and attentive to whatever schedule my hosts have. That means not spending Sunday afternoons and nights writing my weekly letter.

To that end, I am preparing some of my letters earlier in the week than I normally do. I would like to share some of the poetry I have shared with many of the people who have attended my Lectio 360 sessions (for locals, I am working out a way to host in-person events weekly this fall). This week, I offer you the great Maggie Smith's "Wild."

I really do try to live by the golden rule. And, I try to be honest with myself about my own biases, but sometimes that is very challenging. It's one thing to recognize that a wolf will kill a young sheep in order to feed its own cubs. It's another thing entirely to extrapolate that lesson to the world that I live in -- that you live in -- and to hold space for others with whom I viscerally disagree. I know that believing something to be so does not make it right. Not for me; not for others. There is far more gray area than black or white. There is far more space for agreement, discussion, understanding, misunderstanding and disagreement than there is for simply right and wrong. Moreover, I firmly believe we all have much more in common than that which so often, so easily, so readily separates us.

I try hard to offer my hand to the hungry future and leave room for differences of opinion. It's not always easy.