Friends, this morning an oblivious fellow passenger cut me off in the TSA line, and words cannot describe the intensity of my sudden inner fury. Surely this is not the sign of a spirit at peace, one with the universe. Like lots of us, I am sometimes surprised by how riled up I am, barely below the surface.

Luckily I’ve spent some time back on campus at the Harvard Divinity School this spring, which has brought echoes of my studies there bouncing through my mind. One of these voices is from Gene Sharp, noted expert in nonviolent revolution, who visited one of my classes right around the time of the Arab Spring.

Dr. Sharp highlighted the power of being FOR something, and how it differs from being AGAINST something, in subtle but dramatic ways. And he showed that social and political movements that have lasted all made this shift somewhere along the way, from fighting against to fighting for. 

AGAINST burns like gasoline – hot and strong, hard to control, fueled by fear. Everyone involved ends up singed.

FOR burns like seasoned oak – steady and warm, easy to tend, fueled by love. Like a campfire that pulls people together. 

Dear ones, as the tulips bloom and the bluebirds return and the apple trees bud, now is a great time to ask,

What are we for?

****

One of my most powerful lessons in this kind of advocacy did not come from graduate studies later in life, but from my own experience as a little kid.  What is my own mother for? Amongst other bedrock ideals, she is FOR me and my siblings, always.

Mother’s Day is complicated and painful for many, and at the same time we have all been mothered – by family and friends and teachers and communities and forests and lakes and pets and books and songs and selves. I am one of the very lucky ones who has been supported by all of the above – and most of all, luckiest of all, by my dear mom, with the most steadfast love I will ever know. If you have ever cared for a person or place or idea with even a tiny fraction of this kind of devotion, thank you. You have made our world a better place.