One creative way our trip chairs got participants involved was offering opportunities to share information with the group. For example, you could volunteer to introduce or thank a speaker, give an overview of historical moment or topic, such as HBCU's, or an important historical figure. The final option was to share A Jewish Thought for the Day.
I had the opportunity to share A Jewish Thought for the Day at the end of Day 2 in the ~125 year old building of Temple Mishkan Israel in Selma, Alabama. The first day, as I mentioned in my previous blog post, was difficult for me in that I felt a good deal of futility about the progress and rights won because things were so stacked to the disfavor of the Black communities. Yet, during the morning amidah when I walked back three steps and then forward three steps, I realized that even though when I do that I end up in the same physical place, it is not exactly the same. The physical movement is aligned with an intellectual re-focusing of the mind of stepping into the deepest of conversations with God.
Also, the sheer act of moving to prove a point has power. After all, over the two days in Alabama we heard about a lot of walking that had the power to force significant change - the Montgomery bus boycotts, the walk over the Edmund Pettus bridge, marches to courthouses to demand registering to vote. This walking didn't usually accomplish the goal on the first try, but that didn't keep people from moving their feet and continuing to try and that's what we all have to keep doing. Moving our feet, moving towards progress, even when it's not immediately obvious we're getting somewhere...we are actually getting somewhere. We move ourselves.
Comments