Some thoughts about my reaction to One Day, not the book itself.
There is a part of me—let’s call it “red hot and righteous” after a book title that has never left my mind after seeing it in a used bookstore; let’s shorten that to RHAR and pronounce it rahhrrrr!—that demands that I “do something” in response.
Let’s be fair to RHAR: that part of me has done some good work. The work might not be quite so impressive as a big city activist’s resume, but it’s respectable for an introverted guy who has lived his whole life in deep red, small town Indiana.
So, RHAR, I hear you. I appreciate the way you’ve pushed me in uncomfortable ways in the past. But I also want to remind you that you’ve hurt people that didn’t need to be hurt. No, now listen, I know you thought they were racist. Allow me to remind you of our teenage years when you wrote your own hateful letters to the editor of the local paper. Feeling angry is not the same thing as being right.
You have always been and will always be an important voice in our system. I will listen to you. I will also remind you of other things you sometimes forget.
Remember Tuesday night when Rachel and Becky and Becky’s friends sang at the assisted living center? Remember how those old faces broke into smiles at familiar songs? Remember how they sang along to the hymns? Remember what went through our mind? “This too is a righteous act.”
You have told me many, many times that if we could only get enough people to do The Big Thing it would change the world. And true, true! Also remember: if we could get enough people to sing to the old folks, The Big Thing wouldn’t even be an issue.
I am not telling you we’ll never do what you want to do. In this world, there will be plenty more opportunities. I am telling you that yours cannot be the only voice in our system. It is my job as the conductor of this rowdy little orchestra to mind the harmony. Right now I want to remind all my parts of the words of Jesus: “this ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”