No Outlet

 

Looking back, one of the things that has made my life the adventure I have so enjoyed is that I have felt there was always something fun or funny or challenging around the next turn. My life seems to have been full of intersections and choices. My life has always felt as if I had options. The options came with varying degrees of risk, and demands, but in themselves the choices inspired and energized.

I realize now that not all people live with such a sense of adventure and options. Age. Gender. Ethnicity. Sexual orientation. Race. Economic status. Religion. For many, the sense of adventure and options some of us enjoy is replaced by a sense of marginalization and hopelessness. Life can come to feel like the sign- “No Outlet”. I can’t imagine looking at the future as a dead end. I can’t imagine feeling that I did not have the same choices as the next person. I fear that would crush my spirit. I fear I would lose hope.

I see this sign every day I walk the neighborhood. I suppose it was the recent holiday that made it speak to me so strongly. It seemed to call me to the highest ideal of my country, that all are free and equal. It seemed to call me to the grand goal of every person experiencing life as a life full of possibilities.

The prophet Jeremiah writes, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” We know that God desires for every person a life of hope. Let us live and work toward creating a world where no one feels they stand at a dead end in their life.

Peace.