Chapter Fifteen: Broke ain’t bad
“There is no wholeness outside of our reciprocal humanity.” Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy, p. 289
My heart ached amidst Mr. Stevenson’s despair, anguish, zeal, and weariness as he reached his epiphany: we are whole in our human brokenness. Unfortunately, American culture prizes perfection and individualism, and our legal system cultivates “otherness” (designating ourselves as “Leaders and Best” probably doesn’t help owning our brokenness, either).
People end up on the right side of the law or the wrong side. American criminal justice presumes things were right before a crime was committed and a punishment sets things right. Yet, when has our world ever been “right”? Being “right” proffers a veneer over our brokenness. Mr. Stevenson eloquently advocates for us to own our brokenness and thus our shared humanity. This is how we can love each other and God as we are asked to.
Christ came to a broken world, “a fatally broken situation,” and stayed. The Triune God allowed Jesus to be broken, executed, and resurrected for our salvation. Chapter Fifteen made me reflect about everyday humans who inspire me to stay in broken situations, like Christ did.
In February 1996, a high-level UM administrator, Dr. John Matlock, PhD, an African-American, was arrested by University police during a congested campus activity. It was an ugly incident. At the time, I hoped he would take the legal route and win. Months later, both parties brought a peaceable end to this heated dispute. http://ur.umich.edu/9596/Jul23_96/artcl04.htm. Deep inside me, I knew he’d chosen the right path, forgoing possible legal vindication. I was fortunate to meet him as a young staffer at UM.
He did not deny his own experience. But for a variety of reasons, notably the many communities he was a part of and served, Dr. Matlock let go of the lawsuit (the charges against him were simultaneously dropped), forgave, stayed, and engaged yet more deeply with the campus-wide issues of racism his situation had further illuminated. His witness – “losing” for the community’s greater good – continues to inspire me.
Dr. Matlock’s choice, like Mr. Stevenson’s, like Christ’s, inspires us to switch sides, join the “losing” teams, and stay in broken situations together. The graces we need – Compassion, Solidarity, and Mercy are given in our brokenness, not our perfection. No easy task for “Leaders and Best.” Can we become “Shepherds and Broken”? “The Victors” might sound different, too. “Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice” (Psalm 51:8). Broke ain’t bad.
Rainey Lamey is a resident-parishioner, works at UM, hails from Montana (way back when), and is pretty sure if God’s Messengers didn’t have wings, they’d use bicycles.
