Lean into discomfort.

Yesterday was the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It’s a day I always try to reflect on the ways I give to my community and work toward justice. Several years ago I started the practice of reading Mr. King’s writing on this day. And I often would read his I Have A Dream speech because it’s short yet meaningful and inspiring. This year, I chose to read Letter From Birmingham Jail. I hadn’t read it in its entirety since college and it struck me how much it hits me differently today. The person I am today is so different than the well-intentioned white person I was 20-30 years ago.

This letter is written in response to white southern church leaders who condemned the non violent protests of the civil rights activists in 1963. They called for law and order. And it strikes me how we could easily replace that specific issue with any social justice issue of today—immigration, gun violence, police violence, etc.— and it would ring true today.

I realize, this letter is written to me. I was and still am in some respect the progressive white person who can center my own comfort over solving injustice. I am the person who has chosen my my comfort over the lives of others. People like me, and yes, I have felt the discomfort of protests, of chaos, of Black anger and wished it would go away so I could get back to normal.

So I challenge us to lean into our discomfort and act to address the root cause despite our own discomfort. We can sacrifice our comfort for the lives of others and for the justice of others.