Where We Put Our Emphasis

In the English language, certain words change their meaning depending on where you put the emphasis. For example, the word “address.” If you stress the first part of the word, it means a place where you live. If you stress the second part of the word, it now means to give a speech to a group of people. Or consider the word “affect.” Stress the first part and it means to influence. Stress the second part and it means feeling states.

I think about both our national holiday and our scriptures today, in that, where we put the emphasis determines what it might mean to us.

Today celebrates what has been traditionally called (and in many places is still called) “Columbus Day.” It was a holiday started in the late 1800’s honoring Columbus’ arrival into the Americas. Increasingly, however, “Columbus Day is giving people pause,”¹ because we, as a nation, are thinking more about the importance of historical legacies and reckoning with the ongoing impacts of ghosts from our past. 

Today also celebrates what has become known as Indigenous Peoples Day (an official holiday in about 10 states and recognized in many more). This celebration has emerged as a holiday recognizing both the devastating history of colonialism as well as the history and enduring contributions of Indigenous Peoples of these lands.

Not unlike the words we initially mentioned, depending on where you put your emphasis, you will be drawn to reflect on very different things. The Columbus Day story centers the experience and perspective of the Europeans. And that will lead you to certain reflections. Centering Indigenous Peoples Day, however, enables Native histories and the perspectives of Native people’s into the center – providing a very different vantage point on history.

It reminds me of the African quote that I have often heard cited, “Until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter.”

What happens to us and in us when story lines shift and center different perspectives and experiences? Just pause here for a minute and check in with yourself.

In today’s gospel, Jesus tells the story of the “good Samaritan” in response to someone asking him, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus proceeds to tell the story of a man who is beaten and robbed and left by the side of the road until someone, a Samaritan, comes along and notices the injury and decides to do something about it.

Mind you, he’s telling this story to a Jewish audience who has an historical animosity and bitterness towards Samaritans. So centering the righteousness of a Samaritan in the story and describing the priest and the Levite as walking by would have made his audience take notice and even bristle!

The Samaritan was clearly not the only one who noticed the injury, but he was certainly the only one who did something about it. He did not “walk on by”.

I draw parallels between the Good Samaritan story and what I referenced earlier with respect to our holiday celebrations. When we let our attention shift to a different part of the story or to a different vantage point (or voice in the story), our attention gets drawn to other places, and new questions might arise for us.

One shift in perspective that I have always appreciated in the Good Samaritan story comes from Martin Luther King who, in a brilliant reflection on this very gospel the night before he was killed, says that the Samaritan apparently flips the question the others seemingly asked internally. Instead of asking, “What will happen to me if I stop and help?” the Samaritan asks, “What will happen to the injured person if I don’t stop?”

King was asking the same question of his audience in Memphis with respect to the garbage workers’ strike. Instead of being worried about what would happen to people if they supported the striking workers, King wanted his audience to think about what would happen to the workers if the audience did not support the strike.

I would submit that we face the same choice – individually and collectively. Do we just “walk on by” the injuries that we know are there because we are stuck on, “What will happen to me?” (perhaps in terms of my discomfort, guilt, complicity, impact on my sense of goodness, etc.) Or might we flip the question and ask, “What will happen to all of us if we do not face these histories and work to repair them?”

While it is certain that the man by the side of the road suffered deeply, I also think about what it takes from people to keep ‘walking by’ violence without stopping. It is clear that people who have suffered from the violence of history do not have the luxury of just walking on by and not facing what happened. Yet I am also convinced that in “walking by” the histories without facing them, we lose aspects of our humanity and dignity in the process.

In paying attention to and tending to the wounds, we all begin to recover. This is true at a personal and collective level. 

It’s my hope that you use this day as a day of reflection related to the colonial histories that we have all inherited. We did not initiate them, yet we find ourselves squarely in them. For some ideas about how we might honor this holiday, click here.

If you are able to participate in local Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations, I would encourage it as a step towards ‘stopping’ and tending to what has been injured.

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