I am often surprised by the creativity of mercy in the face of the unbearable and irreversible. How do some people have strength, honor, and powerful inner resources to face the broken world around and inside of us? Why do they not fall apart? What powerful force do they have that can interrupt of cycles of violence? I know if these cycles are not interrupted they last generations (that is we condition our children to not question “this is just how it is”). Cycles of violence often make the original victim a perpetrator of violence. Why do some people see we have a choice when faced with desolation while others accept "what is"?
I have traveled the world to learn from great leaders who have the imagination for "a new we." Some of these people are humble. Others have great honors bestowed on them, such as the U.N. Human Rights Prize. From sitting at their feet, puzzling out these great mysteries, a space of durable, calm wonder grew in my soul. I began to collect poems about reconciliation. Reconciliation poetry realizes that wounds do not heal with peace treaties (though that is an important start). Reconciliation is also not about self-destructive giving to abusive people. We are called to be good stewards with the lives we are lent. Instead, reconciliation poetry says, “Yes, things are bad. The world is not as it ought to be. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Things can be different. We can flourish again.”
Here is an example:
Sophocles, 496-405 BCE trans. Seamus Heaney, excerpt
THE CURE AT TROY, excerpt
Human beings suffer,
they torture one another,
they get hurt and get hard.
History says, Don’t hope
on this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
the longed for tidal wave
of justice can rise up,
and hope and history rhyme.
So hope for a great sea-change
on the far side of revenge.
Believe that a further shore
is reachable from here.
Believe in miracles
and cures and healing wells.
How is it that we humans still need this poem 2,400 years after it was written? And what wellspring of grace was that poem's source? These are questions I ponder because I have felt life's claws and, after a time of despair, straightened up and decided to ask questions: Why bother? What is lament? What is hope? How can I resource myself for the journey? And the answers to those questions continue to heal my heart and those with whom I build a beloved community.
Allegra Jordan, North Carolina
Executive Director (non-profit)
I have traveled the world to learn from great leaders who have the imagination for "a new we." Some of these people are humble. Others have great honors bestowed on them, such as the U.N. Human Rights Prize. From sitting at their feet, puzzling out these great mysteries, a space of durable, calm wonder grew in my soul. I began to collect poems about reconciliation. Reconciliation poetry realizes that wounds do not heal with peace treaties (though that is an important start). Reconciliation is also not about self-destructive giving to abusive people. We are called to be good stewards with the lives we are lent. Instead, reconciliation poetry says, “Yes, things are bad. The world is not as it ought to be. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Things can be different. We can flourish again.”
Here is an example:
Sophocles, 496-405 BCE trans. Seamus Heaney, excerpt
THE CURE AT TROY, excerpt
Human beings suffer,
they torture one another,
they get hurt and get hard.
History says, Don’t hope
on this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
the longed for tidal wave
of justice can rise up,
and hope and history rhyme.
So hope for a great sea-change
on the far side of revenge.
Believe that a further shore
is reachable from here.
Believe in miracles
and cures and healing wells.
How is it that we humans still need this poem 2,400 years after it was written? And what wellspring of grace was that poem's source? These are questions I ponder because I have felt life's claws and, after a time of despair, straightened up and decided to ask questions: Why bother? What is lament? What is hope? How can I resource myself for the journey? And the answers to those questions continue to heal my heart and those with whom I build a beloved community.
Allegra Jordan, North Carolina
Executive Director (non-profit)