“Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” Romans 12: 17-18
Noble or nobility are not words we use much in our context. When we do it is associated with board games, the latest HBO or Netflix period piece, or with European history of a hereditary class of persons.
Noble (def): of an exalted moral or mental character or excellence; admirable in dignity of conception, manner of expression, execution, or composition.(1)
Watching the drama of Hurricane Harvey on TV and social media we saw the nobility of humanity on display. Neighborhood flotillas, strangers rescuing persons from cars and homes, it was hard to watch and inspiring as we see the best of what the human family can be and do. There are, no doubt, hucksters out there that will demonstrate our need to profit at another persons pain, loss, and despair. And, it is not only the scam artist taking advantage of tragedy because our system of supply and demand effects all of us flooded our not. Have you filled up a car this week? It is a scarcity/abundance cycle we’ve yet to tame as a system of government and as the Church universal.
A guy named Paul, that many Christians revere, suggests another way people who claim Christian faith might behave and interact with one another and our neighbors (Romans 12). If it is true that one’s character or true self is on display in times of tragedy or high stress, then we have another example of the good that is in each one of us. It is more than a compassionate melody of ‘heart strings” when we think of loading up our own boat, giving to the Week of Compassion or the Red Cross, creating clean up buckets or hygiene kits for Church World Service, giving blood, clearing our calendar to be ready to go and lend a hand, or other ways we might help our neighbors in south Texas, Louisiana, India, or in our own home town. Somehow, we need to learn how to harness that “goodness” to address everyday tragedy to break the cycles of hunger, poverty, injustice, and violence. It starts with us and trickles up, maybe becoming a wave racing toward those in government that are tasked with problem solving and governing for the common good.
Children and youth know how to do this “common good” thing. Goodness is instinctive, I think, that is buried as a learned response to negative experience. We cannot mitigate all negative experience, because those are learning opportunities, but we can “transform ourselves by the renewal of our minds.” It is why, I think, images of selflessness become moving human interest stories of unbelievable courage. In times of tragedy people can embody the nobility of, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” How do we do that in ordinary time? Reconcile?
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Note
1. noble. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/noble (accessed: September 1, 2017).
