on road signs and the banality of evil

In long rural stretches of our country, the miles seem indistinguishable, never ending. Nearing a state line, there is no spatial distinction between a road claimed by Tennessee and one claimed by North Carolina. Indeed, the Smoky Mountains, and the curves and tunnels of Interstate 40, don’t really care which state’s Department of Transportation pays for each mile. And yet, for a driver tracking her progress, signs that announce when a county ends or begins are helpful. They offer perspective. “Tennessee: The Volunteer State, Welcomes You”, is a sign reminding you that you are not trapped on an endless journey with no direction. It tells you where you are and where your actions are leading you.

Hannah Arendt was a philosopher and political theorist who attended Adolf Eichmann’s trial after World War II. After sitting in court, hearing the testimony of Nazi order givers and Nazi order receivers, she wrote a piece in The New Yorker in which she described “the banality of evil.” Evil is not radical, she claimed, it is neither exceptional nor always recognizable. Hearing purveyors of evil confess their choices and delusional perceptions of the impact of those choices, Arendt refused to compartmentalize the evil that created the Shoah. Horrifically, she concluded that evil is ordinary because people don’t pay attention.

Arendt understood that everything matters. She also understood that the human capacity to maintain perspective is wildly undependable. Most of us tend to think we both control our decisions and understand the implications they have for others. We know we have to share: the earth’s resources, our infrastructure, our learning, roads, food and water. Moreover, we share humanity, with inherent dignity, dreams, and our need for shelter, belonging and purpose. However, this shared-ness exists in conflict with a dominant identifier of American culture: Independence.

Our love of independence has wonderful outcomes. The protestant work ethic, the resiliency to survive, our identity as overcomers…these are all fruits of the tree of independence. Our love of individuality has a delusional side though, namely that we believe that our choices are ours alone. We get angry if anyone tells us what to do, and we often avoid the obvious truth that what we do with our time, money, energy and children impacts others. We say we want to be responsible for ourselves, but I want to suggest that we are responsible for the way our action and inaction affect the people around us. Our choices are not made in vacuums because we don’t live in vacuums. We live in neighborhoods, and each of us would perish in a week if we tried to live without the assistance of others.

This is why those state welcome signs are so helpful. As Arendt discovered, we quickly lose perspective, and without a marker—a sign reminding us of where we are and where we are headed—we easily continue down roads that are destructive. Like those who followed evil orders in Germany and Poland, seemingly unaware of the implications of their actions, we also quickly adjust to a status quo that demeans others, even if it is evil.

For instance, in Nashville, Tennessee, we have close to 88,000 kids enrolled in our public schools. 3,000 of them are homeless. One in six of them suffer from daily food insecurity. Parents who work full time for minimum wage live well below the poverty line, unable to pay for rent and food for their families. Our Sheriff’s Deputies are first line mental health care providers in our city, even though they receive neither the training nor the resources to adequately meet the mental health needs of our impoverished and addicted community members. Our state has not taken adequate steps to provide medical coverage for our citizens, despite the fact that we are absolutely certain they will need and receive the most expensive form of healthcare through emergency rooms. These realities are outrageous, and they should make us furious. How do we blithely share neighborhoods and roads and grocery stores with folks who are desperate to survive the kind of evil that ignores their existence?

Arendt would say we share space with folks living in extreme suffering quite easily, because evil doesn’t wear a cape and carry a pitchfork when it enters our neighborhoods. It exists in the banalities of life. It thrives when we make small choices to segregate ourselves so we don’t have to see suffering people. It thrives when we decide our ability to choose our insurance provider—our independence—matters more than making sure every person who needs healthcare is covered. It flourishes when we trust politicians and business owners who say higher wages will hurt the economy and stock market, but don’t pause to figure how little full time minimum wage actually earns a person. It grows when we rename apathy “faithful”, and pretend that paying attention to the slow tragedy of crushing poverty is not our job.

Evil thrives when we decide we aren’t responsible for the things happening in our communities. It takes root when we don’t pause to consider how our choices impact the lives of others. The great news is that we don’t have to live this way. We don’t have to ignore the ordinary signs of evil to which we have grown accustomed. Instead, look for the signs that offer perspective. They will likely be different for all of us, but they will appear if you look for them. Pay attention to the lives of vulnerable folks, and allow what you see to reorient your own approach to life. Instead of driving on cruise control, lost in thought, look around. Look for the markers that will restore your sense of justice, of shared dignity and responsibility to you. Look for signs that allow you to see where your choices take you, and who they ignore or diminish. Follow urges to take responsibility for what happens around you. Develop the habit of paying attention, and then take action to help, lest we all surrender to the monotonous road, full of ordinary evil.

a leaf buckled concrete: paths of hope

Every time I spot a weed growing up through concrete, I think, “Good for you.” I can’t help myself. I am biased toward underdogs, toward wildness, toward bucking the system. One of my many faults. While I would not say that I have a pro-weed orientation in life, I prefer the natural world to concrete in nearly every instance. That stubborn little weed reminds me that persistence is a superpower.

 In faith-driven, Biblically rooted justice work, the inequity I hope to expose and reform is massive. I often teach about the systems and norms that created our unjust status quo to folks whose life experiences have sheltered them from interacting with such unpleasant realities. Getting people in the room is a battle in and of itself, but after that I have come to recognize two distinct blocks. The first is visceral defensiveness. The second is perceived powerlessness.

 To learn of such atrocious injustice as an adult who has actively benefitted from and propped up systems in the name of Jesus, patriotism or justice, can be disorienting. Such a shock, in fact, that it is easy to deny this history exists, or to shake one’s head, disbelieving. At the very least, most want to claim innocence: “I’ve never oppressed anyone! I don’t even know people getting hurt by this so-called injustice!”

 Encountering such obvious disparity, people often feel shamed, guilty, or accused…all of which lead to defensiveness. Defensiveness destroys relationships and short circuits curious impulses. We are not capable of learning from others when we are busy defending our own action (or inaction). We cannot think of solutions when we refuse any responsibility or even connection to the problems being addressed. Because I have learned to anticipate such defensiveness, I now name it as the enemy of the good in the very moment in which it occurs. Feeling defensive or attacked is not a reason to walk away. When I name the creeping posture of defense, people usually look up, exposed, but also interested in any available alternative. I encourage folks to notice their defensiveness, commit to investigate it later, and then lean in to the conversation at hand. I ask them to seek to understand before they decide who is to blame (or if they even agree).

The other block many must overcome in these moments is the completely overwhelming—I-had-no-idea—shock of seeing the reality of injustice in our systems. When folks learn to avoid defensiveness, staying invested long enough to learn about the realities others face, they often feel crushing grief. Overwhelmed at the power and longevity of injustice, they instinctively see their own powerlessness to change anything. “I hear you. I’m with you. But what am I supposed to do?! How on earth can I do anything to actually help?” While this reaction can keep relationships alive, it can lead to the same sense of paralysis that results from defensiveness. In either case, injustice remains, with no resistance from well-meaning folks who enjoy the privileges of living in the majority.

I think this is why I love that little weed. Whoever designed and laid that sidewalk probably did everything right. They scorched the earth, leveled the ground, and poured one of the strongest substances known to man on top of it. And yet. Despite all odds, that little spunky weed grew. A leaf buckled concrete. It’s a Christmas miracle! Or maybe a gardening nightmare? Either way it gives me hope that a living thing made to find the light, with enough time and determination, can crack through a system made to permanently block its ability to grow. Go weeds go!

In parenting and educational circles, grit is a new buzzword. We have long recognized the difference in natural ability and growth. Some kids achieve because they are naturally gifted to do so, while others have deficits they learn to overcome through determination, delayed gratification and belief in their abilities. These kids develop growth mindsets, to borrow from Carol Dweck, and they learn to face obstacles that seem insurmountable one step at a time. Yes, failure is likely from their starting position. But taken in small steps, small victories add up until they accomplish their goals, achieving well beyond their initial trajectories.

As a parent of teens and a tween, I now realize I would rather send a kid into the world who has grit, who has learned to slowly overcome odds, than I would a kid who has easily achieved most accomplishments. This is not to say I am against easy achievements. By all means, knock it out of the park, especially if it comes easily! Adulting, though, is hard. Losing a job, working under a mean boss, caring for sick kids or parents, having a marriage fall apart, or suffering in economic distress all require a long term commitment to stay the course and learn the new skills required for the task ahead, even if it feels impossible. Grit, it turns out, wins the day.

Here in Nashville, succulents are all the rage, and frankly, I’m uninterested. Give me a rainforest over a desert any day of the week. I know they conserve water, but I live in Tennessee instead of Arizona for a reason. I like vibrant colors, gorgeous blooms, and diversity that makes the eye hungry to take it all in. People I love who know about plants love them though, so I finally got a succulent or two. Damned if I haven’t grown partial to these little miracle growers. They are stubborn sons of bitches, and just like my beloved urban weed warriors, they stay alive. They keep growing, even in shameful neglect. I think we could all do well to take a page out of the succulent handbook. Dig deep, determine to grow, and create beauty in the worst of circumstances. Come to the table, pay attention and decide to change your part of the world. Together, let’s see just see how many cracks we can make in the system until there is room for all of us to grow.

on grief: the limits of the lonely way

When I grieve I tend to lose my keys. I forget people’s birthdays and kids’ lunch boxes. I tend to wander around aimlessly like our dearly departed dog, Copper, whom my brother consistently called, “Vacant.” I lose thoughts mid-sentence, without even knowing I trailed off (I am baffling to be around, a thing I know because I regularly look up to see my kids looking at each other with a side glance at me, saying-without-saying, “Are you watching this? Mom is losing it.”). Splendid.

Therapists have told me that my psyche is working hard to process grief that defies processing. That this effort requires a lot of work, and so there isn’t brain energy left to hold the grocery list, or to remember that the stop sign is not going to turn green, and that it’s my turn to go. This incompetence is challenging for me, a productivity addict.

Still, there is a beauty in it. I have come to wonder if perhaps the fog through which I move when I am overwhelmed with sadness is an unconscious attempt to protect the self.  That my deep essence knows I can’t do the juggling, so my hands don’t reach for the balls. My executive function knows it is broken, and so it signals to those around me, “Don’t give her anything to do. It won’t go well.”

It makes sense to try to protect ourselves, to pull back when we hurt. When I was young and my brother was leaving for college, I tried to do trial runs of surviving his absence all year. I would pull back, aloof, acting like I didn’t care that he would soon leave me behind. I thought it would make it easier. It didn’t work.

Sometimes the universe feels dark. We feel surrounded by tragedy, or hesitant after so many revelations of bad news. Whether it is interpersonal pain or the wail of living in a world of such atrocious injustice, there are reasons to grieve. We walk wounded, nearly ducking from an innocent breeze, aware that trauma can lurk in any shadow. The hiding away doesn’t work though. Sometimes we suffer. Sometimes life is excruciating. Sometimes we can’t run fast enough to outrun the pain.

In Memphis, TN, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital stands as a defiant beacon of hope. St. Jude is an amazing place that regularly delivers miracles; it is also a warehouse of personal tragedy. Outside the complex of buildings that houses so much pain—kids hurting and parents aching that their beloved child’s life is on the line—exists a marker of the route of one of the most painful corporate experiences in American History. The road that runs alongside St. Jude is littered with signs that say, “Trail of Tears: Original Path.” Deeply personal pain surrounded by expansive, generational, shared pain.

The first time I drove past St. Jude, I glimpsed the sign but didn’t catch the entire thing. I couldn’t believe it. A few hundred yards down the road, there was another marker. Long before St. Jude was built, long before the street was paved, thousands of Natives, forced from their land by the US Government, walked that road. Held children as they died on that road. And now, along that street, personal tragedy and historical trauma bear witness to each other. How do we witness such pain? How do we face evidence of corporate and historical trauma in the face of our own, personal disappointments or tragedies? 

It is easy to try to protect ourselves. To decide to shut down. If you are a parent walking into St. Jude with your kid, you probably don’t have any room to encounter or lament the Trail of Tears. We want to hide, to burrow away. We can’t face so much sadness. Our bodies and souls and psyches can’t take it. This is true.

However, I have learned it is also true that hiding away in my own personal grief does not make it easier. Instead, it is a beautiful thing to bring my hurting self to see all the other hurting selves and to be together there. To be a hurting human with other hurting humans. Especially when it hurts or causes discomfort, I now believe we must lean in to the pain in others that sees the pain in us. It might feel safe to hide within our own boundaries, but it is a sure way to dehumanize the soul as it braves the wilderness alone, forging a self outside of community. When it all feels like it is too much, it seems safe to discipline ourselves to be aloof. However, to be aloof is to deny your own humanity, because the human in you must resonate with the human in others. Especially in pain.

We have far too little expectations for our capacity to empathize and heal. Perhaps instead of shutting down in our pain, we now choose to bring it with us into our communities. Could we allow ourselves to be together in it? Could we expand our capacity to grieve the personal and the collective? Pretending to ignore corporate grief does not make it go away, nor does it alleviate our own encounters with suffering. It comes for us whether we are ready or not.

Perhaps we can learn to take a page out of the St. Jude playbook. They find a way when there is no way. They celebrate kids and have parties in sick wards, and laugh and play while kids endure unthinkable pain. They refuse to shut down in the face of suffering. They look it square on, with tears, and then continue to fight for every kid as long as they are able. The fight often brings more pain, but fight they do. They know increasing the capacity to fight for every kid does not diminish the ability to engage one kid with compassion. Could the same be true in us? Instead of withdrawing in our pain, could we find more healing through engaging in the pain of others? Could our burdens be more bearable if we lean in to stand with all those who bear impossible hardships each day?

Ignoring corporate angst, avoiding the pain of systemic injustice, does not protect me from my own personal loss. Is it possible that our own encounter with unspeakable personal pain teaches us how to grieve, lament, hope and then resist the systems of injustice that continue to wreak havoc on all of us? Rather than working to erect walls that promise to keep us safe, I suggest we increase our capacity to witness and engage with the pain of others. It might actually help us survive our lament, teaching us to hope again, with companions along the way.