Age-wise, I straddle the Baby Boomer/GenX line. I married a Boomer, yet many of my perspectives (and musical tastes!) are GenX in nature. This is relevant for my reflections today because I’ve realized in the past few weeks that there’s a “protective” Boomer bubble that’s being burst in my life—and probably the lives of many others. Let me explain.
White middle- and upper-class American Boomers had a pretty darn good time of it growing up. The fifties, sixties, and seventies in American culture were a time of rapid innovation and greatly expanded quality of life. Yes, there was turmoil, but the underlying sense that “life is good” went unchallenged. Everything was just going to get better and better, from now on.
That fundamental perspective is facing serious challenges today. Authoritarianism is expanding, here and around the world. Income disparities are once again on the rise. Those like me who have learned to pay attention to others’ realities have realized that life has only really been “good” for middle- and upper-class whites.
Back in 2020, I reflected on whether xenophobia is, in fact, a human norm. Over the decade I’ve been blogging (Yes, that’s right, I’ve pondered something online every week since August 2013!), I’ve reflected on numerous conflicts, most recently in Ukraine and the Holy Land. In fact, both those wars are only the latest eruptions of longstanding conflagrations. When “Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho” (the ruins of which are pictured above) back in 1400 BCE, he was displacing Palestinians—theoretically at God’s command.
The bottom line is that I’m realizing how life has, in fact, been downright horrid for most people in most countries throughout human history. We didn’t read about that in school because history is written by the powerful winners, not all those they stepped on, beat down, or killed to get there. Exploitation and domination are the norm.
So, where do we find hope? For me, bursting this Boomer bubble is necessary to comprehend both that life is not good for most and also that I cannot forge a utopian new world order. I don’t have that kind of power. I do, however, have enough power to do what Jesus did: spread news of a radically different perspective in each of my daily encounters. That radically different perspective is love—but it is love rooted in powerlessness. Even Jesus didn’t try to overthrow the Roman government. He stayed with the powerless.
Understanding our powerlessness is not easy for us, but neither was it easy for Jesus’ earliest followers. Many of them “turned back” and quit following him because they couldn’t handle the radicality of his message.
Friends, this is a hard season and a hard lesson. Yet, I believe we are called to live and love with our eyes wide open. So, what bubbles need bursting in your life? What hard realities do you need to face?
Shirin
Because of my Jewish son-in-law, this Israeli conflict is hitting close to home. Consequently I’ve done a lot of not only thinking about it but praying for various aspects of it too. I do know about Joshua being told to ‘cleanse the land’ but couldn’t it go back further to Abraham? Couldn’t it be inferred that there were individuals living in the land when he went to occupy it? I wonder. So then this whole Middle East thing is downright complicated!
I personally show kindness and gratitude to each and every single person I interact with. Because of the ‘harshness’ involved in the disparities between it seems all people (financial, cultural, political), I assume that everyone could use a word of kindness, love and compassion. In almost all cases, especially on the phone, people tell me I ‘make their day’. I don’t say this to ‘toot my horn’ but show how many people are hurting today. And how far our society has changed in the last three decades. Being a Boomer, I’ve seen so much exponential change that it can leave my head spinning.
But yes, we each need to look at our own lives to see where we can be Jesus’ love and share that as much as we can.
Thank you, Nila, for taking this complex situation back even further. You are right in going back to the Abraham story, though my (probably imperfect) reading is that he was invited to “settle” not “conquer” the territory…and as the shortage of laborers in America is showing us right now, we do need each migrants for our communities to thrive!
Thank you also for your commitment to showing kindness and gratitude. I do my best to do the same, and sometimes that can be hard work too–especially in the midst of exponential change.
in Jesus’ love,
Shirin
Oh my. The hardest reality that I need to face is that, indeed, life is not good for the majority of people around the world, including our country. I, too, was born (1946) into the bubble of white middle and upper class reality that proclaimed that life was good. I didn’t know that the city in which I grew up (Phoenix) was very segregated. All my classmates looked just like me. All the people in my textbooks looked just like me. All my teachers looked just like me. I was–dare I say it–blissfully ignorant. Thank God that my eyes have been gradually opened over the years of my adulthood, and that I’m still learning. Thanks, Shirin, for pointing what has now become obvious to me. What a great reminder!
You’re so welcome, Aston. Thank you for sharing your experience and how you have been open to learning. I think that’s one of the most important characteristics we can cultivate…curiosity and courage to keep on growing and changing….
Peace,
Shirin
I joined an online forum created by WCCM (World Centre for Christian Meditation) based originally in the UK, dealing with “environmental grief.”
I can’t tell you what a personal relief it was to share with many fellow humans from across the globe our real feelings of helplessness, and yes even despair in the face of worsening crisis.
Though the bubble you referenced is perhaps more sociological than ecological, I am most struck by the similarities between the scale of multiple disorder we confront at this moment in history
Yes, it takes courage to admit the truth & not turn away. And it takes greater fortitude – which I experienced in this forum of online contemplative seekers – to speak the truth of our powerlessness.
Oh, Alex, what a powerful testament…thank you! I’m so glad you found a community in which you could express all of what you were thinking and feeling.
I also think there is some freedom in recognizing what we cannot control…it allows us to focus on what we can.
Peace,
Shirin