Redemption? not enough

At the end of Steven King’s Shawshank Redemption, we find our character laying on his back saying “I’ll be damn!”. His partner in crime had pulled it off. Not a small feat. Papillon’s worthy. One handful of limestone at a time. Sprinkled around in the yard during break times. Unbroken. Maintain one’s sanity and sense of self.

I have a dream. Well, I had. When I was three. Seeing the adults in my family fought over dinner, watching the flood water rising, and neighborhood thieves chased by my father/protector. I had a dream. That I would never grow up to avert those mishaps. Human hurting human. Nature punishing humans. And family quarrels over meals.

Our larger human family has done just that. Assassination. Revolution. Extermination. Defoliating (“denying the enemy’s sanctuary”). We have gotten good at the art of deceitfulness. First, learn the ABC’s. Then the D’s (deceit, deny, and deflect blames).

I have a dream. For real. Last night. That I finally came with money. And I threw my hands in the air, declaring to those in the room (my classmates, majority of whom have been looking down on me) that we’re all on a flight, mine, to Paris.

That’s a kid’s dream.

Not MLK’s one. His was much grander, more encompassing, and harder to actualize.

Redemption? Not enough. Back in the summer of 86, I went to West Africa. (That put me near the “action” of Apartheid, I naively hoped).

Made some friends. Visited Joe from grad school for instance. And of course, I learned another lesson: it’s possible to live in harmony, outside of the Coca-Cola’s commercial, with folks from multiple nations.

But it takes work. It takes sacrifice and self-examination. For me, redemption is not enough. We need to deconstruct ourselves and our society (larger self), before putting them back (like refracting through a prism).

Why and how did we get to this point? (Judy Woodruff is trying to answer to that). Lack of education (proper one)? Respect? Or it’s self-evident in human nature to associate in groups, then get united by “hating” others.

The answers lie in those in power, wanting to control and leverage their time (short) on Earth to stay on the throne (or keeping it within the bloodline e.g. N Korea).

Zoom out, and we will see the arc of history. It will right itself. And if I still am around to see Paris, I would lay on my back, like the guy in Shawshank Redemption, ” I’ll be damn!”.

Very rarely in one’s lifetime, do we see and honor people like Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela. Beyond their darker skin lays a brighter soul undeterred by outward and unjust treatment.

Everyone has a choice between birth and burial to live a just life. Treat others fairly, the way you would like to be treated. When that’s so, “I’ll be damn”.