“The world did know and remained silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent when and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted …that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe.”
It is a common misconception that spiritual maturity has to do only with an inner sense of calm, peace, and contentment that are the fruit of distancing one’s self from the chaos of life in the world. It is thought that a person who is spiritually evolved is not bothered by what troubles the rest of us; nothing could be further from the truth. Although inner-peace in the midst of chaos may characterize one who is growing spiritually, so does a sense of solidarity with and responsibility for those who are hurting.
The late congressman John Lewis often spoke of “good trouble,” the kind that people get into when they speak and act on behalf of the victims of injustice. Holocaust survivor and Noble laureate Elie Wiesel got into a lot of good trouble during his life, and in the above quote he encourages us to do so as well.
There is a long list of troublemakers whose efforts on behalf of the oppressed were rooted in the spiritual conviction that the souls of all people are one: Nelson Mandela, Dorothy Day, Oscar Romero, Mother Teresa, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Martin Luther King, Jr. are but a few of the many who knew that “sometimes we must interfere” because everyone is our spiritual sister or brother.
What is important to remember is that, as one author put it, the poor may be wearing pearls – some who appear put together on the outside, might be broken within. Only a few of us are called and/or capable of addressing directly the major issues that afflict humankind, but we are all able to make the lives of those in our small circle of family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers a bit better. At times responding to people in need may require being compassionately present, at others it is a question of confrontational tough love, but always it is a matter of looking beyond the quiet confines of our souls and allowing others to become “the center of the universe.”
Attuned to Soul 