Without a Voice

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,

for the rights of all who are destitute.”[1]

I WAS MOVED?????????????????????????

by reading the words of Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistanian, who said, “I raise my voice not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard. We cannot succeed when half of us are held back.” Malala was a fifteen-year-old in Pakistan when a Taliban climbed aboard her school bus and shot her in the head. Why? For being a voice for other girls and young women who just want the right to be educated.[2]

But I don’t know Malala and she is far away. There is little I can do for her and the girls for whom she raises her voice, except to pray for their lives to be made richer by minds set free. So I have to look … Closer. Closer.

I WANT TO SAY

“Not here. This will never happen in America.” But it’s happening already. Welcome to “cancel culture, American style,” a form of social separation or deportation existing on many levels today. Maybe ostracism is a better word. Ost-racism. It happens to kids in school, parents at work, families in neighborhoods. And to the elderly. To understand, I must feel … Closer. Closer.

OSTRACISM

in any age is bad, but especially with unwitting or even calculated prejudice against the elderly. ‘Ageism,’ whether in home, community, church, or the world happens when no one is looking. Like a deep cut bleeds before pain sets in. It happens when someone is left out of social or professional circles. When the phone or doorbell doesn’t ring. When social media and in-person events are less and less about you and more and more about people you don’t even know. When the chilling reality sets in and suddenly you get it … you’ve been “canceled.” What just happened? … Closer. Closer.

ENGEL BROMWICH

of The New York Times says this usage of the word "cancellation" indicates the "total disinvestment in something (anything).” Or anyone, I might add. Intentional? Maybe, but with ‘ageism’ it can often be an elder problem, too. We run slower in our lane these days. We can be as guilty of ostracism or cancel culture as anyone. Maybe without even knowing it … Closer. Closer

?

A SURVEY CONDUCTED ON 10,000 AMERICANS

by Pew Research Center asked a series of questions, specifically on who had heard of the term “cancel culture” and knew what it meant. In September 2020, 44% of Americans said they had at least heard of the phrase, 22% had heard a great deal and 32% knew nothing about it. According to the survey, Americans aged 18–29 knew a great deal about “cancel culture,” while only 12% over the age of 65 said they had heard a great deal about the phrase.

I recently heard someone say, “Don’t shop at HobbyLobby. Go to Michael’s instead.” When I asked why not HobbyLobby, I was told it was because of a particular societal/political stand the Green family (owners) had taken. A few years ago, the same thing happened with Chick-fil-A. I plead guilty myself. When Howard Shultz sold the Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City, I boycotted Starbucks for an entire week! So put that in your coffee cup, Howard. But Howard didn’t even write to apologize. So I’m back at Starbucks.

In the Pew survey, 53% believed that people should expect social consequences (“cancel culture”) for expressing unpopular opinions in public. Just don’t say, do or believe anything that might be deeply offensive to other people. Really? I can’t hold my breath that long. Cancel culture is a proven way to be uninformed, unfair, and undermining; an easy way to hurt and harm, to destroy someone or something without having to assume responsibility for doing so. Kids do it. Adults do it. Even the elderly do it. Guilty as charged. I have to get … Closer. Closer.

SO BACK TO AGEISM’S

“cancel culture.” We know ageism is not the “Jesus way,” and when it happens, as it will, it should be called out. In a polite way, of course, like Malala, who stirs something deep within me by raising her voice “so that those without a voice can be heard.” There are many in our world today “without a voice” who go on unheard and untouched by us. We say we are sorry, but there’s nothing we can do. Until the need comes … Closer. Closer.

When it came time for days-old baby Jesus to experience the purification rites, Joseph and Mary carried him from Bethlehem to Jerusalem to be presented to the Lord.[3] This was more than a cultural ritual. And this was no ordinary child. The Son of God was entering his Father's House for the first time. And who was there to meet-and-greet him? Two senior citizens, Simeon and Anna, who took baby Jesus in their arms, loved on him, blessed and prophesied over him. Were these two the best known, most prestigious people in the Temple? Not even close. But God saw them. He knew they were waiting there and this was where he wanted the purification of his Son to begin—in the arms of an old man and an elderly widow … so very Close!

Today there are some in the church family who can’t get there anymore, not to their church. It’s too far. They don’t drive. They are physically not able. They watch their church or someone else’s online from their room, but it isn’t the same. It’s been awhile since they have taken communion, the Eucharist. And they miss it.

So, “I raise my voice not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard.”

Just remember, on his first day at his Father’s House who it was holding a helpless child “without a voice.” Maybe we should all be invited into the church nursery next Sunday.

[1] Proverbs 31:8 NIV

[2] I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick, 2013, Orion.

[3] Luke 2:22-40