Trying to Hold on to My Deepest Beliefs in 2024

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Dear Friends, it’s been a few months since I have written my blog. I had been working on a fall/autumn blog entry but the unexpected war in the Middle East between Hamas (Palestine) and Israel just zapped me. I lost savoring the season of autumn as we were propelled into a winter of war. The wars in Africa, as well as the war between the Ukraine and Russia was more conflict than I could absorb. Now this brutality. The actual pain and devastation that is occurring in the Middle East is incomprehensible. And, as always in war, the innocent are the victims. For what?

The minute glimmer of hope is that many spokespeople throughout the world who understand conflicts, why they occur, how they occur, are insistent that this devastation cannot continue. WAR is not the answer. Nor is it the answer in Russia and the Ukraine. I am not some naive schoolgirl who thinks that if everyone just “plays nice” everyone will live happily ever after.

There will be conflicts. There are numerous conflicts and divisions throughout the world. Conflict might be our “middle name” here in the United States. But on the larger scale, we endeavor to resolve those conflicts via negotiations; on-going meetings, exploring options, non-violent strikes, sanctions, peaceful demonstrations, speaking out, using our right to vote. It’s messy. It is often long term, but we keep it at without destroying each other either verbally or physically. Individually, however, people are using guns more and more to settle differences, which is incredibly dangerous, wrong, and very, very sad.

Here’s what I do believe: I am convinced that we, as a universal humankind, have the power within us universally and collectively to eliminate war, to end poverty, to provide food and shelter for all, to expand and provide adequate health care and share the tremendous medical breakthroughs that the first-world countries have with second- and third-world countries.

And on a practical level – and I am practical – we could try this right here in our/your hometown.

I live in the City of St. Louis. One reason we cannot shelter the unhoused is because we suffer from the NIMBY virus. Heaven forbid that we welcome a residence for the unhoused in my neighborhood. It’s feasible, we just won’t do it. We could do it. If the majority of the residents said “you, know, a residence for the homeless could work here if we all support it.” It would happen. But we’re afraid. We’re afraid of crime, of debris, of lowering housing values. But those are not inevitable. They are stumbling blocks that can be dismantled. If we choose collectively.

As we begin 2024, how about we resolve to “think outside the box?” Ask questions about ourselves and our neighborhood. Someone recently reminded me that as the All Things New program (Archdiocese of St. Louis) continues to unfold, there are going to be a lot of empty school buildings, rectories, and convents. Isn’t there something in the Gospel about sharing our resources?

Let me close with a quote from Amanda Gorman’s “The Hill We Climb.”

The new dawn blooms as we free it.
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.

America, Home of the Brave…

Bridget