HEART BEATS

“When a man starts out with his hands/Empty, but clean,/ When a man starts to build a world,/He starts first with himself/And the faith that is in his heart–/The strength there,/The will to build./   First in the heart is the dream—/Then the mind starts seeking a way…./. Then the hand seeks other hands to help,/ A community of hands to help-/Thus the dream becomes not one man’s dream alone,/But a community dream-” (1)
 “Heart reaching out to heart, Hand reaching to hand,/They began to build our land.  Some were free hands/Seeking a greater freedom,/Some were indentured hands/Hoping to find their freedom,/Some were slave hands/Guarding in their hearts the seed of freedom,/ But the word was there always: /Freedom.” (1)

“America” is an inclusive dream…a “land created in common, dream nourished in common.” (1)  This nation only becomes ‘America’ when we build it together; it doesn’t really work for any of us until it works for all of us.  When we embrace them , our differences are a rich resource we can draw upon to nurture all we can be as a national community.  A place where the mind, body, and heart of each person knows s/he is safe, respected, cared for, treated justly under the law, and free to actively participate in and bring unique gifts to “the work”.

A powerful image emerged from a documentary of a small band of men who walked 500 miles of El Camino de Santiago together:  Early on, some of the group pulled ahead and kept a faster pace than others; those who were falling behind became discouraged and ready to give up.   No one was happy.  About mid-way, they made a pact to hike together.  They formed a line and rotated leadership , so that each led and went to the back when his turn expired; all had turns in the middle.  They set a good pace, all were supported, and each was stronger and more fulfilled making the journey this way together.  Their differences fostered balance and innovation.

In his great ‘Fourth of July’ speech delivered in New York in 1852, before the Civil War, a man born into slavery and escaped into freedom, set forth this challenge: “I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nation’s destiny.  The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles.  Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost. <<>>> The blessings in which you this day rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. – The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence, bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. …You may rejoice, I must mourn. <<>> Your fathers have lived, died, and have done their work, and have done much of it well.  You live and must die, and you must do your work…if your children are to be blessed by your labors. “ (2)

“To the enemy who would divide/and conquer us from within,/We say, NO!  / FREEDOM!/ /BROTHERHOOD!/DEMOCRACY!/  To all the enemies of these great words: We say, NO!”  (1)
To till the soil so these may grow for all of us is hard, conscious, intentional, sometimes baffling, work.   Let’s give each other a hand and “keep our hands on the plow”.