The Way of Love: The path less trod / A.J. Hendry
This has been one of weeks where the temptation to burn out, to give up and give in to outrage and anger has been strong. And yet, I am reminded that the path of Justice is paved by Love.
This has been one of those weeks where the temptation to give up, to burn out, to allow outrage and anger to drive me, has been strong.
I wake up some days struggling to believe that ending youth homelessness is something that my colleagues and I have to fight for.
That the right for a child to have a safe place to live, enough food to eat, to be seen as a human, rather than a nuisance or threat to society, is actually a case we have to make.
I've been tempted to give into the rage. To give up on the path of Love, to choose anger, to choose revenge against those I perceive are not doing enough. To harness all the might of the twitter-fury that I can muster, and hurl it through the social media sphere against those who hold so much power, and yet tell us we must do so much more.
And yet I know that path leads only to burn out, to more division, to destruction. The flame of outrage burns bright but it does not burn long. For in one moment you are transformed by the power and knowledge of how just and right you are, and in the next you yourself are consumed by the very flame that leant you strength.
I see so many passionate, loving, caring people, burnt out and angry at the world we have inherited. It is human to be angry at the injustice surrounding us, but anger uncontrolled consumes and destroys, not only the environment surrounding it, but also the person holding the match.
At the end of the day, this work, it's about more than us. It's about our whānau, it's about our young people, it's about the children being born into our world today whose future is already being set for them due to our systemic failure and collective apathy.
We must remember we stand for them.
We must not allow ourselves to be so consumed by the fire of our own anger and outrage, that we become nothing but a hollowed out husk, apathetic, or worse, a mirror to that which we ourselves are so determined to oppose.
Hatred and anger, will not bring about Justice.
Hatred and anger, does not have the power to heal.
I speak about Love often, and often I am ridiculed for what some people perceive to be a path which is soft, fluffy, and naive.
But, the Way of Love is not an easy path.
It is the path of vulnerability. It is the choice to see the humanity of our brothers and sisters, even when that humanity is obscured.
It is the choice to continue believing that change is possible, even when you've had a hundred doors slammed in your face.
It is the path that refuses to stop loving, even when acts of Love are met with knives and stones.
It is the choice to remain vulnerable, even when the armour of apathy and outrage would be far more comfortable to wear. It is the choice to devote oneself to service, to sacrifice, to choose to reject the lie that any are other.
To choose Love, costs.
It is not easy.
It is not soft, or fluffy. It is the hard conversations, it is the choice to forgive, it is always being willing to walk the path towards reconciliation. To choose the Way of Love, is to choose a path that is not easily trod. And yet, upon it, we are awakened to our own humanity.
We matter. All of us.
Our worth is intrinsic to our humanity.
There is no other.
There is Just Us.
#LoveIsTheWay