Thursday February 25, 2021

I wore a pink T-shirt yesterday, Anti-Bullying Day in Canada. But because this isn’t T-shirt weather, I wore it over the top of my other clothes, to make it more visible. 

            Anti-Bullying Day started in Canada. I’m proud of that fact, as proud as an apologetic Canadian can be about anything.

            Two teenagers in Nova Scotia, David Shepherd and Travis Price, objected to another student being ridiculed for wearing a pink shirt on the first day of school. So they bought 50 pink shirts and handed them out to other students, to wear in solidarity with the bullying victim. 

            Because their act coincided with the school year, Nova Scotia first set Anti-Bullying Day in September. The day moved around a little, as other provinces climbed on the bandwagon. The government of Canada now defines the last Wednesday of February as Anti-Bullying Day. 

            So when I took the dog out for her morning walk yesterday, I was wearing a pink T-shirt. Also, red-and-white socks, a thank-you gift from the Canadian Red Cross for a donation in my wife’s memory. A blue tuque from my church’s Thrift Shop. A Rotary pin. 

            And I thought to myself, I’m a walking billboard!

Embodied beliefs

            It was a new way of thinking about my clothing. And my behaviour, too. 

            That what I wear, and what I do, attests to my convictions, my beliefs, about what I believe in.

            Billboards have long been banned along B.C. highways. We used to joke that we could always tell what country we were in, because U.S. highways had billboards, and we didn’t.

            The ubiquity of billboards led Ogden Nash to pen one of his terser poems: 

“I think that I shall never see

a billboard lovely as a tree,

In fact, unless the billboards fall

I’ll never see a tree at all.”

            Today, a flotilla of billboards along any Canadian highway instantly tells you that you’re passing through a different jurisdiction – through what is still officially termed, I believe, an “Indian Reserve.” 

            The dearth of billboards led advertisers to seek new territories to display their slogans and brands. T-shirts. In summer, it’s almost impossible not to be bombarded with messages about soft drinks, fast food, and running shoes. To say nothing of political slogans, satirical cartoons, and offensive suggestions. 

            I still wonder what a girl – she couldn’t have been more than 13 – thought she was advertising, as she and her family strolled along a park trail in northern Ontario. Her T-shirt declared, in big bold letters, “I’m a Virgin.” And beneath, in smaller letters, “This is a very old T-shirt.”

            My Rotary pin serves as a mini-billboard. Many Rotary clubs end their meetings with members reciting Rotary’s Four Way Test “of the things we think, say, and do.” The phrase recognizes that Rotary is not just about attending meetings and paying dues. Everything that one does reflects one’s identity. 

            In that sense, we are all walking billboards. We embody our beliefs. 

            I may wear a pink shirt only one day a year. But if I oppose bullying – by anyone, anywhere, anytime – I need to live that conviction every day.

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Copyright © 2021 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.

                  To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca

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YOUR TURN

After last week’s column, my almost-brother Ralph Milton asked, “What is the difference between prose and poetry? As I read your piece, your thoughts struck me as poetic, while Merton's poem sounded like prose. Surely the way the lines are laid out doesn't make the difference.” 

            I replied, “It has something to do with metaphor. With figures of speech, with onomatopoeia and alliteration and allusion and so on. Merton only has one metaphor – ‘the road ahead’ -- and from there on he says it straight. Because my initial thought was to write a poem, I already had a lot of metaphors in mind, which I incorporated into the column. (I'm glad you caught that, by the way.)

            “Prose, maybe, says what it has to say, and not much more. Poetry, on the other hand, doesn't say all that it has to say -- it leaves a lot to the reader's imagination. It hopes that a word, a phrase, an image, will evoke much more from the reader’s own experience.”

Mary Collins recommended the poems in a little book called "Spirit of Gentleness: A Collection of Prayers and Meditations", edited by Lyn Whittall and Judy Hager. Here’s one of them, by an unknown author:

When we come to the edge

Of all the light we have

And we must take a step into

The darkness of the unknown,

We must believe one of two things:

Either we will find something

Firm to stand on

Or we will be taught to fly.

Bob Rollwagen tossed in his own metaphor: “The road ahead has Soft Edges. A patch of fog does not begin to capture the level of uncertainty. Yes, there are satisfying events along the way, but as each one fades the uncertainty about life grows. The metaphor was too easy; a prayer is what we live every day.”

Jim McKean was recently appointed “to a recently amalgamated congregation that since October has been without clergy leadership. They are struggling to see what the future might be like. Your message was very timely as I journey with them. I know that we are not the only  community of faith going through similar concerns these days, and so your insight was a blessing. It gave us and others an opportunity to gain some wisdom during these thorny times. The Merton prayer you quoted will be shared with the community in the near future.”

Mervyn Flecknoe wrote, “Thank goodness we don’t know how many days we have left, or what the future holds, Jim! We do know for certain, however, that the Earth will persist for many millions of years, with or without human life forms. Each day, therefore, each decision needs to take into account how our living that day will improve the planet and any residents in its biosphere.”

Jim Hoffman offered his own experience: “When we can't see the road ahead due to foggy conditions, when we don't have good control due to icy, slippery conditions, when we become mired in some mud -- it's time to slow down, maybe even stop, and think through our present situation.  The solution to safe passage may indeed be to reflect, to reach out in prayer, to discuss the situation with God.  I have travelled many miles on various highways and byways.  I have always felt Jesus was in the passenger seat beside me -- and many a time I had the good sense to turn off the radio and just talk to him.  Whatever the situation, I always have felt better and have had a clearer mind going forward.”

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Psalm paraphrase

I wrote this paraphrase of Psalm 23 back when HIV/AIDS looked as if it would be the same kind of pandemic as Covid-19 – it inspired fear, terror, and paralysis. And I was awed by the compassion shown by a friend in the gay/lesbian community. 

23        Behold a saint!
Few could do what she does:
she goes down to the hospice, every day, 

24        where people waste away with AIDS.
She does not hide her face behind a mask, nor her hands inside rubber gloves.
When they cry in misery, she cradles them in her arms.

25        We shake our heads in awe at such selfless service. 

26        She feeds them, spoonful by spoonful.
They watch with sunken burning eyes;
they turn their skin-tight skulls and kiss her cheek. 

27        Their own families turn away from them;
long after their sons and brothers, their daughters and sisters, have died, those families will remember her devotion. 

28        In her they see God's kind of love;
love that has no limits and sets no conditions.

29        God's love does not distinguish between the froth on the top and the dregs on the bottom;
it makes no distinctions between the lords and the lepers of our society.

30        Years from now, people will speak of her visits in hushed voices;
they will hold her high as an example to follow. 

31        Because of her, they will know God better.

You can find paraphrases of most of the psalms in the Revised Common Lectionary in my book Everyday Psalmsavailable from Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.

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TECHNICAL STUFF

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                  I write a second column each Sunday called Sharp Edges, which tends to be somewhat more cutting about social and justice issues. To sign up for Sharp Edges, write to me directly, jimt@quixotic.ca, or send a note to sharpedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca

                  And for those of you who like poetry, please check my webpage .https://quixotic.ca/My-Poetry I posted several new poetic works there a few weeks ago. If you’d like to receive notifications about new poems, write me at jimt@quixotic.ca, or subscribe yourself to the list by sending a blank email (no message) to poetry-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca (If it doesn’t work, please let me know.)

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PROMOTION STUFF

To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols. Some spam filters have blocked my posts because they’re suspicious of some of the web links.

                  Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca He’s also relatively inexpensive!

                  I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom. She also has lots of beautiful photos. Especially of birds.

                  Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom (NB that’s “watso” not “watson”)

ALVA WOOD’S ARCHIVE

                  I have acquired (don’t ask how) the complete archive of the late Alva Wood’s collection of satiric and sometimes wildly funny columns about a mythical village’s misadventures. I’ve put them on my website: http://quixotic.ca/Alva-Wood-Archive. You’re welcome to browse. No charge. (Although maybe if I charged a fee, more people would find the archive worth visiting.)