How the Stories of Our Past Shape Our Future
Do you feel weary? Here's how the stories we pay attention to can fuel resilience and hope. {Plus a GIVEAWAY and 2 recommendations}
These days, I think many of us feel weary. Weary in advocacy, weary of politics, weary and wondering if the change we hope for is possible. I recently wrote, in reference to Down Syndrome Awareness month, that “awareness isn’t just about information and action. It’s also about paying attention.”
I’ve been thinking a lot about the stories we pay attention to and how our imagination for the future is shaped by the way we narrate our past. Storytelling has a profound influence on how we imagine what's possible.
That’s why I was grateful to talk with author and historian Jemar Tisby, Ph.D., on the podcast about his latest book, The Spirit of Justice. In his work, Jemar insists that we tell a fuller story of our past, especially when it comes to the history of race and justice within the United States. He makes a powerful point:
“Evil is unsurprising. It's always showing up. Evil in the form of racism is always showing up in different ways. What is truly remarkable, what is truly astounding, isn't necessarily the evil, but that there's always people willing to stand up against it.”
He also writes,
“It's not enough to point out the problems of an unjust system. The people who become the greatest agents of change also convey a notion of a better future. It is not sufficient to decry what is. We must also craft an image of what might be.”
I love that: We must also craft an image of what might be. That’s part of the work we hope to do here at Reimagining the Good Life.
In our conversation, Dr. Tisby and I dive into the true stories of faith, race, and resistance that his book explores, and how these stories give us a blueprint for imagining a better future. We talk about:
The persistent spirit of justice in the Black Christian experience in America
The historical and ongoing struggles against racism
How faith and storytelling fuel resilience and hope
Professor Tisby encourages us to see "hope not simply as a feeling but as action. And any action we take to resist injustice is an act of hope.” This conversation is an invitation to join in the creative work of renewal and justice. I hope you’ll listen in—his words remind us that while our path toward change is long and hard, it’s also filled with hope and possibility.
As it happens, this episode also released one week after the sixth anniversary of my book White Picket Fences: Turning toward Love in a World Divided by Privilege.
That book holds my attempt to both reckon with the injustices that make up my history and move with hope towards a good future. I’m incredibly grateful for the work of people like Dr. Tisby who have helped me along this way!
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I hope you’ll watch or listen to our conversation. Let me know what you think! And tell me—what stories have your attention? What stories bring you hope in the midst of weariness?
~Amy Julia
P.S. Keep scrolling for 2 new recommendations and a GIVEAWAY!
Just a reminder
October is Down Syndrome Awareness month. Next week our daughter Penny will share her thoughts with you about how it feels to have a whole month where people are thinking a lot about Down syndrome.
Recently Penny’s friend decided their school is not the right fit for him, so she decided to say goodbye with balloons and cupcakes. Such a sweet combination of her care for people and love of events planning! (I never think to do things like this, and they are such a great way to show love and care.)
2 Recommendations
1. Where Do We Go From Here? by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King’s words are no less prophetic now than they were when he wrote them 55 years ago. What I love most about King’s work is the way he combines the inner work of the Spirit and the outer work of protest and social action, the way he grounds his hopeful vision of a good future in the hard work toward justice here and now.
2. Lovely One: A Memoir by Ketanji Brown Jackson.
I didn’t know much about Justice Jackson other than the adoring photo of her younger daughter Leila at her confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court. Now that I’ve read her book, it’s easy to assume that Leila’s smile came from a place of deep love and admiration and delight in her mom. This memoir shares the struggles and joys of parenting her two girls in our modern era. Jackson walks us through the complications of recognizing the needs of her older daughter, Talia, who is autistic, as well as pursuing career dreams with two loving and highly capable and ambitious working parents. I really enjoyed this book.
A GIVEAWAY!
It was such a joy to speak with Curtis Chang on the Good Faith podcast last week: What Disability Teaches Us About Jesus (with Amy Julia Becker). I’m grateful to Curtis for giving voice to this topic with such care and thoughtfulness and for all the work he does.
As an added bonus, his organization, Redeeming Babel, is GIVING AWAY three copies of my latest book, To Be Made Well. Go to this post on Instagram for instructions on how to enter! A winner will be picked by Friday at 12 PM EST!
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