"Our Daily Blog" #2

"Sustainability" Part One

By Dr. Gloria Latimore-Peace

Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing: It shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. There was a recent article in "The Daily Beast", "When Will Kids Go Back to School?" that appeared to be aimed at exploring the issue of reopening the schools. However, it is the subtitle, "Out Forever Really?" that demands our attention. According to the Researcher, William Bredderman, "The COVID -19 shutdown [of schools] has disrupted every school district in the country forcing the vast majority of the United States' 55.6 million students to try to learn at home. It's difficult to overstate the potential negative consequences...". This observation was followed by a partial list of potential consequences with which most of us are already familiar. In fact, there are those who already knew-- from experience-- that when "the 'Quality' get a cold, the 'Tasked' get pnuemonia (aka Corona)"1. Thus, they rightly suspect that the fallout from the shutdown pandemic exceeds their comprehension. Nonetheless, as a member of a kinship group for whom "improvisation"is our strong suit, it is imperative that we "wrap our heads around" these potential ( aka inevitable) consequences.   It is an historical fact that the 'Tasked' have more at stake than the 'Quality'. Thus, the Tasked have had no options other than to play by the "school-education-job-life" rule, i.e. go to school, so you can get a good education, so you can get a good job so you can live the "good" life even though playing by the rules on an unlevel playing field has not always led to the promised  life.

The consequences of being undereducated: Unemployed, Unhoused, unfed, unhealthy, is less of a concern to the 'Quality' since the rules are bent in order that "those to whom much is given, much less is required". Under these circumstances, and in light of these potentially dire consequences, we must do what we have done since time immemorial, we must "make a way out of no way". Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

( To read part two, click here). 

Footnote 1, The Quality and the Tasked were coined by Ta-Nahesi Coates and used in his book, "The Water Dancer". Coates, Ta-Nahesi, "The Water Dancer". Publisher, One World. New York. 2019

Other References: Isiah 43:16; Romans 8:28,31; Joshua 1:9; Psalm 23; Philipians 4:13, ad infinitum...