why? a spoken word poem for a polarized world

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one afternoon i was picking up my kids from school when i heard seething words from a pink-faced man who – evidently – wasn’t a fan of cyclists.

he angrily scolded me from his truck sitting in traffic: i bent one little rule and he wasn’t havin’ it.

in that moment i paused. whatever my pink-faced future friend believed about me, we are still part of my same human family.

whatever one’s identity, we’re all under the same umbrella, each crowed with God-given dignity. perhaps we live [or vote] differently, pink-faced man and i, but if i try could i find common ground with this guy?

i ask: why?

there’s a big election in a couple of months: it’s kamala harris or donald trump. we hinge our hopes on our favorite one. big data algorithms confirm what we chose two decades ago; there’s no questioning what we [think] we know.

some of us try to rise above it, but there’s still rage burning in the places we’ve shoved it: bottled up anger spills into social media in memes and jokes labeling people “woke.”

i love to learn new viewpoints and grow from others, but sometimes i read these posts and feel other-ed. like the time somebody called someone weird [now everyone’s bothered]. we’re fighting for points in a match no one wins; every comment shows where each person is. it’s a zero-sum game with no possible hope for common ground. it’s hot takes and tropes.

sometimes it’s outright false information, exaggeration, straight-up lies. sometimes it’s unadulterated hatred without any semblance of disguise.

we ask: why?

some of us stay far from politics, and i get it. but maybe your own life isn’t affected? perhaps your privilege keeps you protected? clashing ideas, frenetic noise, i see the choice to abstain [there’s the need to get away] but if you don’t care do you got real skin in the game?

maybe your life isn’t threatened or marginalized: you don’t have to hide or lie or – at the end of a long day – end up crying because of bullying, abuse, or threats – when they don’t get you, or they don’t even try.

you ask: why?

when i was little my Sunday school teachers taught me about Jesus, how he taught us to love and forgive since he freed us. they told me how selfless is the way we should live, forgiving as we know our Jesus forgives.

but those same believers have gotten so mean. they fill their feeds with obscene content and seem to flaunt it unquestioningly as if they had the handle on objectivity. what happened to compassion? when did care turn to rage? when did some Christians forget how to behave? did they forget to try?

we ask: why?

it’s not only the spiritualists who sow seeds of judgment, but you’d think they’d have the resources to somehow rise above it. when ideas are contentious we all have a voice, and there’s the choice to relent amidst the noise. we can feel big emotions but still stay cool; we can stick to a set of rules and still maintain passion or call for action.

i wonder what life would be like if we knew how different people arrived at their views. what news? what source? what cause makes you care? do i dare wonder how you got where you are – why i prefer my bike and you drive a car? i can share why i ride, you can share why you drive.

it can be safe to ask: why?

we can even talk religion and faith: what we believe, how to behave. if God gave an only child – Jesus – to save then life is certainly different today. we can talk about caring for the planet as we’ve come to understand it, and talk about stewardship and how we’ve all got a hand in it.

we can talk about immigration and the rule of law. we can talk economics to figure out how to care for all. we can talk about work and the ethics of a welfare state and the choices we make or didn’t make. we can talk about what it means to experience attraction differently, or gender that falls outside a rigid binary.

we’re all different, all unique – progressives, libertarians, or conservatives. we’re all humans, bearing God’s image, i hope we can learn this is just how we’re designed, not all the same but different. yet we inhabit the same world so how can we best live in it?

i hope i can live by my own words and ask why, yet genuinely listen and honestly try to hear others out without forcing my opinions, while offering grace – grace i know i’ve been given. i can work for change in the world but it starts with me; i’m the only gospel my neighbors believe and my friends can see.

i pray and hope for connections and listening and trust, and i pray and hope for the grace it takes to love. and i pray for the strength to keep trying, occasionally cry, and when needed to hide in the arms of Jesus the Christ.

and for the courage to compassionately ask someone: why?

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