By Michael Tyler, EJS Poet-in-Residence
Many years ago, when I was twenty-eight and CD players offered a repeat button to endlessly listen to a favorite song, I was in a serenading loop with A House Is Not A Home, by Luther Vandross. It was several plays before an utterly, unromantic notion occurred to me.
From repeatedly hearing the lyrics, “A chair is still a chair”, “A room is still a room” and “A house is not a home”, I thought about the complete futility of a chair, a room and a house unless, as the song said, someone is there present in them. It takes people sitting, occupying and living in the chair, the room and the house for them to have purpose, to have meaning. That’s what makes a house a home, the people in it.
Soon after, I questioned what makes a country, a nation? I’ve long thought of a country as any land mass with recognized borders and a common government. On the other hand, I’ve always thought of a nation as a collective of people who share a prevailing and binding history, culture, language and distinguishable persona. Where I see a country as a geographic location and political entity, I see a nation as a cultural identity and societal distinction. The United States will always geographically be situated in North America, and it will always have a common form of government, despite it being precariously undemocratic at present. This defines our country. But the people of this country, who make up the quilted tapestry of cultures, ethnicities, ideas, cuisines, arts, perspectives and beliefs we recognize as “America”, are what determine our nation’s identity, its distinction, its persona — its character. It’s why terms like “uniquely American” exist.
I continued in my thoughts to ask, what do we need for our nation to become a more perfect union? I found myself reflecting on the courageous and oftentimes life-sacrificing efforts on the part of many, in years past, to change this nation towards that ultimate, idealistic goal. Then it occurred to me that change will never do it. Why?
Take the chair and change its location to any room in the house. It is still a chair. Change the color of the walls in any room. It is still a room. Change the décor and landscaping of any house. It is still a house. “Change”, by these examples, simply means to alter the position or perception of a thing, without altering what that thing is. Similarly, as the moon changes its position in the sky, so too does our perception of it. But its position in its orbit does not materially alter its size, mass, composition or relationship with Earth. Whether we perceive it as a thumbnail or a pearl in the sky, it is still the moon.
I came to reason that this was the error in pursuing change to effect a more perfect union. For years we’ve been altering our positions and perceptions of the social condition, consequences, impediments and ills that prevent that aspirational idealism, but fundamentally the nation is still the nation. It was then that I thought of a biblical passage attributed to Paul the Apostle. When I was in fourth grade, my favorite teacher, Sister Laurena, said that it was Martin Luther King, Jr.’s favorite citation, Romans 12:2:
“…be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
The renewing of your mind. To make the mind new. Beyond any claim of wisdom assigned to one man or any denomination of faith declared on its behalf, the irrefutable truth of these words is evident to anyone willing to see, rather than have their vision directed. To be “transformed” means to become totally other than, to undergo a process of alteration so profound that the form altered from can never again be recovered. As the caterpillar transforms into the butterfly, it forever leaves behind its former self. As the lump of coal transforms into a diamond, it forever magnifies its value by becoming other than what it was.
There is something common to us all, an inherent quality that is evident in its daily display by everyone, everywhere. It is as ordinary as it is exceptional; as conditional as it is absolute. It neither negates individual distinction nor cultural definition; nor does it demand a generic expression to be observed. It is the basic concept of shared likeness, that core element of being that identifies what it means “to be human”. It is the fundamental truth of a universal humanity that will always endure despite our differences, and it will always prevail beyond our prejudices. To realize this in our lives, to form a more perfect union, we, the citizens of this nation, must be willing to transform the content of our character, to become what we have never been.
Our spirit, our thoughts, our vision, our perceptions, our words, our deeds, our hearts, our emotions, our reasoning and our reasons, our motives and our motivations must be forever altered and deemed unrecoverable. To make our minds new, we must first rescue them from the dogma of insecurity that has long been our imprisoning indoctrination. Before there can be spiritual and behavioral transformation, there must first be mental and emotional reclamation. If we take back the purity of our hearts, the childlike innocence that existed before the contamination of adult fears, we can do this. Only the heart of a child can make a mind new again.
If we collectively do this, we might finally realize what King long ago understood: to devalue another means to declare your own devaluation; to dehumanize another means to reduce your own humanity; to destroy another means to insure your own destruction. With this realization we might finally transcend the socially promoted behavior of tolerance, for tolerance will never defeat bigotry. It only endures what is different. It does not eradicate the contagion of hate but instead renders it dormant, awaiting the conditions to become active. It does not prevent the judgments of inequality, or protect against the insults of suspicion or prescribe a remedy for disdain. It does not invest in the truth of our shared likeness, but rather promotes the feigned diplomacy of civil segregation. It is the alteration of position and perspective, while leaving contempt what it is, contempt.
We can manifest King’s dream and realize a more perfect union, but we will need a transformative concept for behavior. To do this, we must understand acceptance: the recognition, acknowledgement and affirmation of a universal humanity, an essence of existence we all embody. Acceptance embraces this humanity while viewing what is different without malice or threat. It bolsters the immunity of appraising character and heals the wounds of violation. It thrives from the potential of interaction, rather than fear it as something to avoid. It promotes the fellowship of humane regard, rather than the facade of public compliance.
Throughout my life, I have seen many photos of Martin Luther King, Jr. and many times in those photos, he appeared to be looking beyond what is physically in front of him; peering into the future with a vision towards an illuminated reality for us all. I believe he had that vision because he had already renewed his mind. Before his death, he was well on his way towards advancing the transformation of our nation. Now, more than ever, we need to awaken to this possibility. For King’s dream to become our reality, this must be our endeavor, to, as a nation, become who we have never before been.