varying degrees of light

I overheard Dan Davis talk about a Day of Silence... for poverty this evening. Justice Matters and Creation Care hosted a pot-luck dinner and we were seated on the outside and inside of a... I guess you could call it a long, skinny U. I was on the inside. Dan and Nealio on the outside. I was (probably) distracted at the time by Betsy's giggle but I caught the end of their conversation and, ashamedly - though I don't think he saw it - I smirked in uncontrollable initial reaction. Obtain some cheap t-shirts, write DAY OF SILENCE on them and, for one day, be silent... to raise awareness and reflect on the reality of poverty around the world, and to protest the oppression and injustice. I get it. It's a good idea. Awareness is the first step to action and restoration. I believe this. I believe in this.

But there was a day like this at my old high school in Michigan. I was a sophomore and I had been in the Forest Hills schools for five years then and had seen geeky, uncoordinated peers (some friends, others not) grow into their what-have-you high school interests - playing the bass guitar! and, all of a sudden, wearing a whole lot more make-up and a lot less shirt. Why not? To be blunt about it, there was a group of unpleasant people and they grew to embrace it. Fine. Sure. Find other grouchy, moany, ugly people and you have stability and acceptance in the unwieldy machine that is the public school system.

There was a day, then, that these kids caught on called DAY OF SILENCE... for oppressed gays and lesbians... and bisexuals, or what have you in your lustful thoughts. Yes, the words fag and dyke was thrown around callously in those halls. And the alliance for said demographics (I forget the initialism... LGBSA... ?) had been set in place the year before, so it would make sense that they would... "Obtain some cheap t-shirts, write DAY OF SILENCE on them and, for one day, be silent... to raise awareness and reflect on the reality of [homophobic harassment] around the world, and to protest the oppression and injustice." Again, I get it.

Except that these kids were smiling, chatting, raising their hands in class, and kicking their heads back in that obnoxious, "I don't care, but I care so much," laughter that attention-starved kids do in high schools across America. Their shirts had SILENCE crudely printed in black, against white t shirts, and they were still gabbing in the hallways. You'd think that there would be one rule, one job for that day. Just the one day.

Do I think a DAY OF SILENCE is an effective means to raise awareness for poverty? No, but it would be a good day - just one day - for us to shut up and spend our existence in reflection. We've been told that poverty exists. Some of us have probably even seen it in some urban city. But we don't have the financial or strategic means to significantly fight it. Our students visit the Gospel Mission and write letters to Congress and the House of Representatives and plead for more volunteer opportunities and head up clubs for Justice and Creation, and we must, and we must do more.