Module 6: Immersion Framing & Preparation – Leadership Cohort

Resilience Shouldn’t Have to Be Learned

Katie Calvert — Sat, 15 Jun 2024 19:52:11 +0000

I was really engaged in John’s talk and I did go back and listen to it again. Even though I’m late posting this, I’m glad for this push that forces me to form my thoughts! One thing that I’ve been thinking about a lot was when John reminded us that people should not HAVE to learn resilience. I’ve been working on a painting that came largely out of my coming to understand and admire the resilience of the Palestinian people, and their deep connection to their land. Their determination to stay, to resist, and surprisingly to dedicate so much of this resistance to creative and nonviolent forms, leaves me in awe. So while on the one hand we can admire their beautiful acts of resistance and resilience, it should also break our hearts, because these very things are a witness to all they have endured.

I used to hear the phrase “kids are so resilient” a lot, though I think perhaps it was more popular in the 90’s and I am thankful I don’t hear it much now. Now that we have children through adoption,that phrase sounds even more ridiculous. We know that this resilience isn’t so much a full recovery back to normal, but survival techniques built into the human psyche that are activated by hardships. We can thank God that He built this “resilience” into us, that enables us to survive so much trauma, but the long term consequences without healing are huge: the nervous system is on high alert, stress is building up in the body causing all kinds of chaos, and eventually, unless a person is able to revisit and process these traumas and form new neural pathways, the resilience can kill.

What did I discover about the role of resistance and resilience in dismantling institutional racism?

I am reminded that my teachers of resilience and resistance are the marginalized, the ones suffering the most violence (and institutional racism), and I should look to them (as John said, reading is a way; listening) to learn
I will probably never develop resilience as deep as these teachers because I will not truly be the target of this violence or racism, and I may get tired more easily…
Beholding someone’s resilience/resistance can be a measure of the violence they have endured AND remind us of their inherent dignity as imago dei.
It led me to think about Jesus, whom God chose to “make perfect through suffering” and considering this for the injustice that it was. But what a mystery that God does choose to right the wrongs by creating beauty out of suffering…

Now I am thinking of one of my favorite examples of the beauty of resistance/resilience: Vedran Smailović, also known as the cellist of Sarajevo. Or Tiananmen Square. It enabled the people suffering under attack to remember their own humanity, and gather strength to resist and to continue on. These examples teach me, and push me forward, too.

Resilience as Thriving

Nathan Geer — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 20:23:56 +0000

The idea of resilience as thriving was new to me after meeting with John Williams on Friday. I have always valued the idea of resilience, knowing we can’t teach it to others so much as model it in our own lives and create systems and structures so others don’t have to develop similar skills. I heard someone once say they want their ceiling to be the next generation’s floor. Constant improvement for the sake of those coming behind us. I am learning to embrace this thinking rather than just surviving, resilience carries elements of proactive, future-oriented engagement.

I took copious notes during John’s talk. I don’t know where to start. Resilience is moving upstream to stop the wrong rather than waiting for it to arrive and helping alleviate the burden in the moment. This is the difference expressed in acts of mercy vs. acts of justice. Resilience is more than surviving. Additionally, resilience is seeing a lack and working to fill it. But resilience is also recognizing abundance and working to share it. Surviving is a passive experience. Resilience takes action. It doesn’t simply get through hard times, resilience comes out stronger on the other side.

I have seen resilience in those who have come before. Those who persevere in the fight for justice on behalf of all people. I appreciate that John encouraged reading as a way to build resilience. Simply having him share with us was another exercise of my resilience muscle. It is too easy for me to engage my privilege as a while male and just stop. But hearing John’s stories and reading those of others inspire me to continue the work on their behalf. I’ve had my own setbacks in working for peace but when compared with the great cloud of witnesses that have gone before, I can’t help but press on. I must continue to work for equitable systems so that others never have to develop grit or resilience in order to thrive.

Learn Their Stories

Jean Meredith — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 20:15:12 +0000

Dr. Williams said that in our history there has always been acts of violence, resistance and resilience. And as reconciling leaders we must look at a situation and ask: Where was the violence? Where was the resistance? Where is the resilience? The first question might seem the easiest since that is often what catches our attention – the act of violence. But as we ask “Where was the violence?” we must remember that racism is visceral and so we must not look away. We need to see the hate, the damage, the pain. And we must name the people and institutions that enact harm and structural violence.

I have had the opportunity to observe two ceremonies of gathering soil samples of lynching sites in my county. The organization, Volusia Remembers Coalition, provided a powerful presentation so that we would visualize and feel the violence the victims of horrendous lynchings experienced. As I visited the EJI Peace & Justice Memorial later that year, those stories stayed with me as I walked through reading the names of those who had been lynched. They were not just names – they had a story…they were beloved and they had experienced violence. I need to always remember that there is a beloved person behind each victim of racism. I need to learn their story.

As an everyday peacemaker, not only should I know the stories of violence and hate but I also have to dig deeper to hear and understand the stories of resistance and resilience. Those are the stories that are often not told or are left out of the history books (especially here in Florida!). These are the stories that help me to see the targets of racial violence as images of God, as Beloved and not just victims. These are the stories that will help me move from just expressing mercy to fighting for justice.