Action. What are you picturing right now? Grand cinematography with daring stunt doubles doing amazing feats for action packed movies? A prosecutor in a massive court room handing the criminal defendant to the jury with enough evidence to put him away for the rest of time? An athlete coming in first place? A long sought-after contract being signed? A graduation? Unfortunately, all these are where the momentum of action is lost.
Action – If it conjures up images of mastery, progress, and victory – we’re in that imagery together – and we’re both in the dark. Action is not in the victory lap. Action is in everything that came before the spotlight moment. Action is what created the opportunity for success. Action is all the little steps before this moment.
I have a friend who asks, “What’s your next right step?” Its one of the best questions I can think of to help guide our action. If we’re waiting for the right moment to make a single move and achieve a victory, we will never prepare, and we will never move – there will never be accomplishment, relief, fluency, or growth – there will only be more of the same. But as I consider my next right step, I don’t worry about perfection or timelines or history. I just make the next best decision I can, right now.
So, let’s bring this discussion into the reconciliation realm. Today – right now – what is your next right step? Could you grow a bit more curiousity and ask a few questions about another’s experience, accepting it as their own without the need to explain your own experience or convince them of your perspective? Could you pick up a book on understanding and reconciliation, beginning to wrestle with the concepts? Could you listen to a speaker or author that you wouldn’t normally engage, gleaning non-judgmentally from what they have to say? Next right steps can include looking into your own heritage, finding out about the culture(s) you come from and how they contribute to your family make up. Next right steps can also incorporate observing yourself and your habitual reactions to others, of your own race and culture, and that of others.
The point? Action is not the grand finale. Action is the tiny steps, the one foot placed in front of the other. Action is the halting movement that slowly builds into something measurable and paves the way for something magnificent. Action is the process that brings the achievement.
Photo Credit: Alyssa Sieb, https://nappy.co/alyssasieb
We are aware of the magnitude of this subject matter and the inadequate brevity of this post. For more, please reference our podcasts, our 1Community groups, or feel free to email us at Uniquelythesame@mission1race.org.
We also wish to address our inability to consider issues of sexual, physical, emotional, and spiritual abuse in our discussions on developing understanding and oneness. If you are in an abusive situation of any kind, we encourage you to seek professional and other help; and to realize that this content does not necessarily apply to your circumstances.