Strength, on the Second Luck
Rachel Robinson, widow of Jackie Robinson, is a queen, formidable in her own right. Traveling through Ken Burns's Baseball documentary, I never fail to be impressed with her quiet dignity alongside him, and as she tells his story in the years that follow. This year, however, I noticed a kind of prejudice in my reaction toward her which, in its way, can be just as limiting and one-dimensional as racism.
I decided that in the division between Those Who Are Strong and Those Who Are Weak, Mrs. Robinson was strong. Case closed. Next. More evidence never made much of an impression on me, even in the same documentary, since I already rendered my verdict. I needed to look again. The same woman, lively yet genteelly imposing, lived on past the world watching her reaction to her husband's heroic part in baseball's integration. She lived on to suffer his untimely demise, to grieve to the extent that she confesses carrying a cardboard cutout of him from room to room in the days after his death in order to have a greater sense of his presence. More than one sort, it seems, it is necessary. Or, classifications that allow for an amalgamation of strength and weakness might prove more useful.
This was proven to me beyond the television screen this week. My reactions to my continuing unemployment buffet me with all sorts of suggestions. Isolated in this ongoing predicament, I make ongoing human contact a priority when I can get it. What I've noticed is that I tend to give those in my sphere the Rachel Robinson Treatment. This one is among Those Who Are Strong because his physical strength is greater than mine, and his imposing physique allows him to adapt more easily or to intimidate life's obstacles. This one can draw from experience and affirmation as a titled leader, so that person is among Those Who Are Strong in ways that I, without a title or a formal following, am not. These two can draw from the discipline of military experience, and that one from the training and crisis conditioning of nursing. Haven't been there or done that. They are Strong. The one with decades more life experience than I have who still prioritizes meeting new people and learning new things, he is VERY strong.
This week prompted a second look at each of these individuals confessed to difficulty staying in the Strong category. I don't know any of them very well, but even seven days of experience showed me that I have been too quick with my diagnosis on their part, and self-dismissal on mine. Each of these admirable people has admitted to anxious or depressive experience lately. Each of them has been drawn to me as I have been drawn to them. Even better, as God has given me words to encourage these folks open to encouragement in a stretch where am not vocationally entitled to guide students or clients, I strengthen myself unintentionally. Reminding one of them that when our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, (1 John 3:20) I am, by accident and cosmic plan, reminded of the same Truth myself. He who waters is himself watered. (Proverbs 11:25) I am sustained, strengthened, even as I realize, again, that I don't confront anything that is not common to man. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
I decided that in the division between Those Who Are Strong and Those Who Are Weak, Mrs. Robinson was strong. Case closed. Next. More evidence never made much of an impression on me, even in the same documentary, since I already rendered my verdict. I needed to look again. The same woman, lively yet genteelly imposing, lived on past the world watching her reaction to her husband's heroic part in baseball's integration. She lived on to suffer his untimely demise, to grieve to the extent that she confesses carrying a cardboard cutout of him from room to room in the days after his death in order to have a greater sense of his presence. More than one sort, it seems, it is necessary. Or, classifications that allow for an amalgamation of strength and weakness might prove more useful.
This was proven to me beyond the television screen this week. My reactions to my continuing unemployment buffet me with all sorts of suggestions. Isolated in this ongoing predicament, I make ongoing human contact a priority when I can get it. What I've noticed is that I tend to give those in my sphere the Rachel Robinson Treatment. This one is among Those Who Are Strong because his physical strength is greater than mine, and his imposing physique allows him to adapt more easily or to intimidate life's obstacles. This one can draw from experience and affirmation as a titled leader, so that person is among Those Who Are Strong in ways that I, without a title or a formal following, am not. These two can draw from the discipline of military experience, and that one from the training and crisis conditioning of nursing. Haven't been there or done that. They are Strong. The one with decades more life experience than I have who still prioritizes meeting new people and learning new things, he is VERY strong.
This week prompted a second look at each of these individuals confessed to difficulty staying in the Strong category. I don't know any of them very well, but even seven days of experience showed me that I have been too quick with my diagnosis on their part, and self-dismissal on mine. Each of these admirable people has admitted to anxious or depressive experience lately. Each of them has been drawn to me as I have been drawn to them. Even better, as God has given me words to encourage these folks open to encouragement in a stretch where am not vocationally entitled to guide students or clients, I strengthen myself unintentionally. Reminding one of them that when our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, (1 John 3:20) I am, by accident and cosmic plan, reminded of the same Truth myself. He who waters is himself watered. (Proverbs 11:25) I am sustained, strengthened, even as I realize, again, that I don't confront anything that is not common to man. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
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