Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my [God], let my country awake
Rabindranath Tagore
Over 100 years ago, Rabindranath Tagore wrote this prayer poem, calling his own country, India, into a deeper truth and freedom. As our own physical worlds narrow in quarantine, Tagore’s words call us “into ever-widening thought and action”. The coronavirus is reshaping our lives, our country, and our world–how will we seek “that heaven of freedom” of a better world for all?
Many of us are eager to “return to normal” as soon as possible. While I share the urgent desire to get us all moving again to avoid further economic harm to millions of people, there are major concerns with returning to normal too quickly. Even before the coronavirus hit, “normal” wasn’t working for many people. America and the world are and were becoming more stratified and unfair. The virus has made these injustices more visible to everyone. Because of these inequalities, the rush to open up too quickly risks the lives of many vulnerable people. As Heather Cox Richardson writes, “If we accept the idea that some of us matter more than others, we have given up the whole game. This country was—imperfectly, haltingly—formed on the principle that we are all created equal, and equally entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If we are willing to admit that our founders were wrong, that we are not equal, that older Americans, Black Americans, Brown Americans, sick Americans, all matter less than healthy white Americans, we have admitted the principle that we are not all created equal, and that some of us are better than others.” (“Letters from an American,” 5/2/20) May we find the courage to reflect on our deeply held values of equality and justice for all, and put them into (virtual, for now!) action in the world around us.
Carolyn Fure-Slocum, College Chaplain
May 8, 2020