West, Colbert, and a Fresh Perspective on Love

I ran across this video of an interview with Cornel West by Stephen Colbert.  I don't watch very much Colbert, and I've only heard of Cornel West.  After watching this, I'm inclined to learn a little more about Dr. West.  The clip is well worth the watch, and just under seven minutes long.  I've paraphrased some of my favorite quotes below.

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West says I don't want social engineering, I want social justice.  Social justice is allowing for the love to flow so that poor people have the same dignity as investment bankers.
-How many people vilify the poor who live off the government but somehow think it's ok to bailout failed businesses.  What is the difference in a beggar who chooses to make a living off of handouts and an unscrupulous businessman/woman who chooses to make a living by exploiting others.  It seems that one is honest about his or her intentions while the other succeeds in wearing a veneer of respectability.

Colbert summarizes a point of West's book, Hope on a Tightrope saying "I hope things will get better, but I have no proof.  Optimism is evidence-based."
-This is a beautiful description of hope and how it leads us to strive to make things better.  Too much optimism leads to complacency-- hope drives us to action.

I'm a militant for tenderness.  Justice is what love looks like in public, just like tenderness is what it looks like in private.  Love is a steadfast commitment to the well-being of others.
-We've bought the lie about love.  We've grown to think love is something self-serving and self-gratifying.  We love because of what we get out of it and when we stop getting, we fall out of love.  We think love is a feeling and forget that it is wrapped up in expression.  No wonder we're left empty when the feeling is forgotten.  Without the expression, the feeling has no power.  We've forgotten what love is.

³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
 ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
 ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.

 1 Corinthians 13

 I don't know what kind of a person Cornel West is, but in seven minutes he's made an impression that will last.  May he find the path of God's blessing and spread the message of love to the world.

Opportunity Cost

So that's what has been on my mind for several weeks now-- Opportunity.  Several years ago I read the book Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell.  One of his points is that success is a combination of excellence and opportunity.  We easily point the finger of luck toward the successes of others, but often choose to attribute our own to hard work and effort.  But without the opportunity, all of the effort in the world is lost; and without effort, opportunity is wasted.

My third-grade daughter began to prepare for a social studies test before the winter break and the concept of "opportunity cost" was a difficult one for her to get.  It is the idea that some choices have more than a monetary cost, but you give up something else when you make them.  Sometimes we foolishly prepare for opportunities that we don't want to miss (e.g. playing the lottery) but other times, we consider foolish, those who do not prepare for the opportunities that are certain (e.g. health insurance).

The news this week fits well the idea of opportunity.  We discussed the story of Ted Williams, the Man With the Golden Voice earlier in the week in my high school leadership class.  Mr. Williams was given an opportunity when someone with a camera chose to give him help, but if his "God-given talent" was simply "ordinary" he would have been just another panhandler getting a couple of dollars from another stranger.  But Mr. Williams was able and prepared to take advantage of the opportunity.  Now, once again, he is faced with numerous opportunities that are his to take advantage of, or to lose.

In the other major news of the week, opportunity knocked on both sides of the door.  In the tragic shooting that took place in Arizona this weekend, a disturbed young man prepared for an opportunity to add to the depravity of our world.  But even in the midst of this depravity, redemption comes through heroism.  Patricia Maisch and others who followed the lead of this average 61 year old woman made quick work of an opportunity and brought a tragic event to an end.  This tragedy also presents an opportunity for our nation.  An opportunity to honestly discuss the eventual outcome of consistently dehumanizing and objectifying one another in the name of politics.

Tonight in Bible study, we looked at the story of Peter and John healing a lame man from Acts chapter three.  The two men were on their way to the temple for prayer at 3:00.  Probably their normal routine, something they'd done daily for most of their lives.  They crossed a beggar.  Probably one of many, maybe they'd even seen him before.  But today, they stopped.  The Spirit of God was with them.  This lame man just wanted a few bucks.  It would've been easy to avoid him, or toss a few shekels in the cup to make your conscience feel better.  Not today.  Because these two men were prepared for the opportunity by being open and obedient, this lame man stood and walked for the first time in forty years.

I think that would be the best way for us to approach the opportunities of our life, keeping an humble attitude, submissive to God and responsive to our surroundings.  Compare this to the attitude of self-promotion, submissive to no one and responsive only to our own needs.  This is the difference in an opportunity fulfilled and an opportunity defiled.