Guest Column: We must be willing to sacrifice for common good in troubled times
By Rachel Allen, Director
Peace and Justice Institute at Valencia College
We are living in unprecedented times which invite each of us to grow our inner resources and resilience. Nurturing these strengths may seem daunting in light of the health, social and economic crisis our world is facing. Our humanity is being disrupted and tested. How will we adapt?
COVID-19 lays bare the reality of our interconnectedness and calls us to our best selves — willing to sacrifice for the common good. A disease that ravages the elderly and communities of color disproportionately invites us to consider in all of our actions, “How can I be a part of the solution?”
In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, incidences of racial terror, including the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, galvanize us to demand racial justice. As Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated, “I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.”
As more and more people open their eyes to the racial injustice that cripples our nation, we are, each one of us, called to examine our part in a system that denies our dream of “E Pluribus Unum,” a unified nation of diverse people.
This moment in human history is calling us to our higher selves. It’s an opportunity to sacrifice for the good of the whole, develop relationships of mutual support, grow in our adaptability, creativity, emotional intelligence, conflict navigation skills and more. It is a time to develop our inner resources so as to strengthen personal and collective resilience. Although we may feel we are “falling behind,” let’s wonder if this moment provides humanity a chance to “fall forward” into what are the essential human skills — empathy, compassion, service, self-sacrifice, and love of neighbor. Each day, each one of us, amidst so much suffering, is called to our better selves, to build human community among us.
Americans who grew up during the Great Depression and fought in World War II, or whose labor helped win it are referred to as the Greatest Generation. Their greatness came from service and sacrifice for the common good. In Victor Frankl’s classic book “Man’s Search for Meaning,” written while imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp, he states, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
Our current world situation mirrors war experiences, given the depth of suffering and the call for sacrifice. We, too, are being given an opportunity for greatness, to choose our attitude — our way. At the Peace and Justice Institute at Valencia College, we aim to support individuals and groups to develop inner resources so as to be able to face the outer challenges and struggles for peace and justice that lie ahead. We invite you to join us in this work, and we thank those of you who work daily to make our community a better, safer, healthier place for all.
Rachel Allen is a tenured professor of humanities and founding member and director of the Peace and Justice Institute at Valencia College. She lives in Maitland.
[To view the complete Guest Column in the Orlando Sentinel, visit: https://digitaledition.orlando...a2-b64a-de3d0088f5c3]
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