from trevor’s encyclopedia of beautiful, ingenious, wonderful, courageous things

I wrote this small essay after the mass shooting by white supremacist Dylan Roof at Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston as a prayer for the world, as a commitment to the world. 

I send it out again today - 

In these days after the mass shooting at Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., where Dylann Roof murdered Susie Jackson, Daniel Simmons, Ethel Lance, Myra Thompson, Cynthia Hurd, Depayne Middleton Doctor, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Clementa Pinckney, and Tywanza Sanders, I am thinking about the power of words and symbols. 

By 'power’ I mean the action of a person or a group of people coming together as a community to serve others. 

To me, this is true power.

Coming together and serving, building up the world into a more human place for everyone. 

By ‘power’ I do NOT mean the action of a person or group of people coming together to dominate others.

To me, this is false power.

Using might to tear down anyone or anything in the world that is different from the way they want themto be.

True power is creative. 

False power is destructive. 

True power is beautiful. 

False power is ugly. 

True power is humble. 

False power is arrogant. 

Do our words and symbols wield true power or false power? 

In response to the shootings, a friend of mine wrote, "Maybe what I can do after this horrible and senseless act is to continue to teach my children to love, and hope one day they will be the ones helping to shine light in dark places and times." 

She is exactly right. 

Each time we brush our lips against the cheek of another human being and say, "I love you," we are using creative, beautiful, humble power. 

We are building up a more human world. 

Each time we hold the hand of another human being and say, "I am here...I believe in you," we are using creative, beautiful, humble power. 

We are building up a more human world. 

Each time we have the courage to speak up and say, "No one is superior to another person...no matter the color of our skin, our gender, our sexual orientation, our income level, our religious beliefs, our country of origin...we are all human beings and we deserve the same human rights equally and universally," we are using creative, beautiful, humble power. 

We are building up a more human world. 

Would you like to see an example of true power? 

Look at the Emmanuel Nine, what they did and who they were. 

Ask yourself as I ask myself, "Is this the kind of power I wield in the world?" 

Each time we say, "I am superior to you," we are using destructive, ugly, arrogant power. 

We are tearing down the world. 

Each time we fly a flag or hold an ideology that says, "I long for the time when you were in your place and I was in mine, when you were below me and I was above you," we are using destructive, ugly, arrogant power. 

We are tearing down the world. 

Every time we point a gun at someone and say, "I have to do it," we are using destructive, ugly, arrogant power. 

We are tearing down the world. 

Would you like to see an example of false power? 

Look at Dylann Roof and the groups that taught and nurtured his ideology, what they do and who they are. 

Ask yourself as I ask myself, "Is this the kind of power I wield in the world?"

May we all be like the Emmanuel Nine.

Creative, beautiful, and humble. 

Wherever we are, whatever we are doing, and whoever we are.

May we build up a more human world.