When we lose our innocence—or perhaps our ignorance—about America

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Tomorrow marks sixty-two years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Like everyone else of a certain age, I know exactly where I was when I heard the news: in my third grade classroom at Capshaw Elementary School. Mr. Bohannon came over the loudspeaker to tell us that the president had been shot in Dallas. A little later, the principal returned to tell us that our young president had died. Classmates were sobbing and in shock. An hour or so later my mother came to pick us up and we spent the rest of the weekend glued to our small black and white television, as the world seemed to spiral out of control.

I don’t want to write a long piece about that day, but I do want to commend to you Parker J. Palmer‘s essay In Praise of Disillusionment. He begins with a poem written on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the assassination; explains the disillusionment that took over his life at the time; and then describes the “long apprenticeship in the realities of ‘life together,’ the tools of nonviolent social change, and the inner journey required to keep [himself] anchored” in what is true.

Palmer makes the case that “weaving is a good metaphor for the work of caring for self and others.” As he wrote the post on the 25th anniversary, it became clear to him that he was to join the millions who do the daily “weaving” of life on which so much depends.

“Seen through eyes unclouded by delusions of grandeur, the world is at once a wonderful and wounded place, filled with tattered souls and communities in need of reweaving. Millions render that kind of service every day, without having a name for it. They do it instinctively as family members, friends, neighbors, volunteers, educators, healers of various sorts, citizens of a democracy. I’ve aspired to join them as a writer, teacher and founder of a nonprofit that gathers people in ‘circles of trust’ whose intent is to reweave soul into the fabric of our common life.”

Palmer asserts that “disillusionment is key to living a grounded life. To be ‘dis-illusioned’ means you’ve lost an illusion—and that means you have a chance to live a little closer to reality.” 

Timely thoughts from Parker J. Palmer for this anniversary, and for our lives today.

More to come . . .

DJB

Image of woman grieving by A.C. from Unsplash