To Love is to Learn

Part 2: Serendipity, Scarcity, and Solidarity

We are all one — and if we don't know it, we will learn it the hard way.

- Bayard Rustin

Scarcity

In review of the events I've witnessed personally and from a distance, I will continue my

thoughts from last week on the perception of scarcity in a land of abundance and the call for solidarity in the face of shameless discrimination at the national level- as a means of making sense of this moment in time.

There is no denying that many Americans severely struggle to make ends meet, many of whom do everything right. But it is also true, especially compared to most parts of the world, that we are surrounded by an abundance of wealth. It only takes a stroll down a block or two in the right direction to see the disparity in DC. The same people who see themselves as revitalizing once economically depressed communities by inhabiting newly re-branded and renamed parts of the city are the same people whose very entrance is seen as an offensive disregard for the history and story of such neighborhoods whose people are pushed out as a result. See, just as I’ve reflected last week on the fact that there is always more than meets the eye for people- there too is more than meets the eye for neighborhoods and such stories deserve to be told.

Solidarity

At the invitation of a dear friend, I was encouraged to attend an event called “Wade Through Deep Water”.  Hosted by a EYA Internship site, Interfaith Power and Light, the theatrical production company, Holy Fools, is made up of young people travels around North America utilizing their amazing talents to engage, entertain and challenge communities to sacred creation care action around water stewardship and public action. Described as a “creative religious performance utilizing poetry, dance, spoken word, scripture, and circus to convey an important message to care for water”, yet another quote stuck out to me.
They shared, “You cannot save a place you do not love. You cannot love a place you don't know. You cannot know a place you haven't learned”. When you work in the public sector to improve the lives of others, it is easy to find yourself overwhelmed and discouraged by the many layers of oppression from which poverty develops just as it easy to think that there is not enough. Well, I have come to the conclusion that our mindset of scarcity is false- there is enough and it is up to us who feel unsettled by it to be tireless in pointing out that reality. As for feeling like we will never be satisfied so long as there are still others suffering- perhaps that is the point. With God’s help, I want to use this Summer to learn, to know, and to love.

Sincerely,

Nura Esther Zaki

Blog Post #3

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As a 2017 EYA Intern, Nura is working with The Democracy Initiative this Summer in the fields of Grassroots Mobilizing and Communications.