Ah, Amendment One, I remember it all like it was yesterday.
(Oh, right…)
Barely one day removed from the torrential flood on social media; so filled with grand rhetoric, vehement disagreement, religious posturing, and deleted Friends, and already thousands of people have simply had enough. They, are (in their own words), ready to “get over it”, to “move on”, to “worry about other things”, and strongly urge us to do the same.
It’s amazing what 24 hours can do; how easily our culture becomes heart-saturated; how quickly we can decide it’s time to “turn the page” on issues and crises and tragedies and people. In this new social media reality, the vast complexities of race, economics, culture, sexuality, religion, all need to be wrapped-up in 140 characters or less, like some cheesy 80’s sitcom.
Anyone remember KONY? That’s already old news.
Trayvon Martin? So three months ago.
Occupy Wall Street? Ancient history.
Our culture’s fast-food, Instagram, Twitter-fied tendencies are well-documented: We want everything, we want it now and we want to move on.
Tragically though, all this speed and instantaneous information has left us with an inability to retain focus, not just when it comes to benign things like T.V. shows, baseball games or casual conversation, but with the deepest and most pressing aspects of our lives on this planet.
We simply have lost the ability to sustain compassion.
The shelf-life of our concerns has become so short, that most of us would rather just switch topics; to find another cause to champion, another photo to forward, another soapbox to briefly stand on, rather than invest any real-time into wading into the deeper water of study, and dialogue and, well… time.
I think back on the civil rights movements of our country’s recent past. I look at the fight for women’s’ rights and for racially equality. I think about the decades of diligent, laborious, sustained efforts that helped make these happen, and consider how fortunate we are that they came of age, so long before we had personal newsfeeds and instant messaging. and 90-second limits.
Otherwise today, women might not be running companies, and blacks and whites would still be using separate restrooms.
All great social change, every economic turnaround, and every spiritual revival, has been born out of persevering people; people who know that momentary passion and fleeting engagement are not enough to do the hard, slow work of revolution.
Today, as you scroll through the soundbites and status updates, may you begin to develop a heart and mind that endure as those things drop below the bottom of your computer screen.
May you develop a greater capacity to care; to sustain passion and involvement when the cause is no longer trending.
May your compassion not easily spoil.
