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This I Believe ... This I Believe by
My name is Margaret Weck and I believe in the possibility of the future. I was raised Unitarian Universalist and two of the big lessons that I took from UU Sunday School were: 1) that the religious impulse seems to be part of the human make-up, and 2) that in order for beliefs to be meaningful they need to be converted into actions in the world. Laughter, potlucks, and recycling are simple everyday expressions of my religious impulse on the personal, community, and planet levels. For as long as I can remember, I have had a knack for looking on the bright side and being generally happy. A smile is my natural expression, and if you have been coming to this church for a while you have most likely heard my laugh. But this is not "eyes-closed-and-fingers-in-your-ears" happiness. My father tells the story of when I was very young, 5 or so, and I was disappointed in something that I had wanted. Rather than becoming enraged or bursting into tears, he says I shook my head slowly, shrugged my shoulders, sighed, said, "life is life," and moved on to something else. So even from a young age I was philosophical about life, knowing that everything wasn't always going to go my way. I have always had, however, an underlying faith that on balance circumstances would work themselves out in the long run, even if I wasn't able to foresee the details of that future resolution. Laughter is my way of acting personally out of my inner faith in the future. I struggle to find the positive in whatever happens to me, and I choose to laugh often and with all of my being. Because of the need to put belief into action, integrity to the religious impulse can't really exist in isolation, it has to be tested by interaction with others for it to be real. The potluck is my metaphor for faith in the future in action at the community level. Everyone needs to eat, and so the potluck is a communal activity that all can participate in regardless of any differences. In a potluck each person has the opportunity to contribute individual skill to accomplish the goal of the whole. Self-expression is used for the benefit of the group, and everyone gets a wonderful full meal without having had to plan all of the details in advance. I also believe that humans are functional components of the global ecosystem. Since I believe there will be a future, I believe our conscious awareness gives us an obligation to behave in ways that contribute to our long-term survival, even at the expense of some short-term convenience. Recycling is my shorthand for the small day-to-day personal actions that demonstrate commitment to sustainability and the future. The First Unitarian Church of St. Louis is a very important venue allowing me to exercise my religious impulse in the world by providing many opportunities for laughter, potlucks, and recycling. My pledge to the church is one more small personal action that demonstrates in the world my belief in the possibility of the future. |
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