Esse Quam Videri: Faith, Doubt, & Becoming

I know people — personally — who insist that racism isn't real. Such a ridiculous notion, in my mind, is like insisting the world is flat.  I don't know if reading the news today about one-year Kohen Wiley was a wise decision, but I do know it hasn't left my mind. And if you aren't familiar yet with this baby's name or the horrific circumstances of his death, please look it up. I'm tired, and I don't want to summarize it for you. Kohen is worthy of a few seconds of your screen time and effort. After watching news footage of the protesting at the Senatobia, MS, Walmart, I can assure everyone that racism is alive and well and has bells on. Here are some ~~~definitely unracist~~~ comments left on that footage: "I can smell this video."  "Who opened the cages?"  "Must be the EBT line!"  "Start passing out job applications and the crowd will disperse immediately."  "They're chimping out like never before these day...

I saw something earlier today on Facebook that bothered me. Just a little bit. It felt off. "If you're going to overthink, then overthink the positives. Overthink the best outcome. Overthink how good this life could be. Overthink how peaceful it would feel if things slowly and quietly worked out." I suppose there are people out there who find statements like this comforting or affirming. To me it reeks of spiritual (or emotional? Idk — something!) bypass. I don't think the statement was made with anything but the best intentions, but for many  people out there overthinking isn't something one can simply...redirect.  For the person "overthinking" about how to keep their kids fed or their water turned on or how to pay for a desperately needed pair of shoes, it sounds a hell of a lot like: "Just think about better things." "Don't worry so much about the hard stuff. Focus on the positive." Can we just say that the hard things are real...