Uvalde and our lack of imagination
There are many enemies to us at this juncture, some easily identifiable, but one of them is our lack of imagination.
After the initial emotional responses (or even in their midst) to a senseless tragedy, the calls for common sense can be heard. “Realistic” is an evil word in this sense, but it doesn’t stop us from using it anyway, often cited within rational appeals for what can or cannot really be changed in our day and age when it comes to another batch of bloody, disfigured fourth grade sons and daughters still awaiting identification in the corner over there.
“You can’t stop evil people from…”
“There’s no way to get rid of guns…”
“They will always find a way to…”
We speak of it as if it’s an overturned bowl of soup, a plane already taking off as we run to the gate. “Welp? What can we do?” It’s a lack of imagination.
As I write this, I must admit a couple of key points. First, not everyone lacks imagination here. Some lack courage and others are disinterested since there’s financial and political gain in doing absolutely nothing. But for those of us for whom it *is* an imagination issue, it’s also important for me to admit I’m writing this as a Christ-follower to those who would likely claim some sort of “Christian” or religious label themselves as a part of their identity.
I would credit God and the Bible and Jesus for this whole imagination idea in the first place.
My default position at this point is to feel frozen at the overwhelming sorrow behind it all. I couldn’t sleep last night for a long stretch while scrolling on Twitter at updates of what was unfolding in Texas, crying at the posts of reporters who said the screaming of parents could be heard as another dead child’s name was announced to a room of apprehensive families waiting for final word. What can be done? That’s honestly a great question.
But here’s what I also know about the “gun conversation.” It’s boring. It’s old. It also lacks imagination. I’ve known far too many Christians who just shrug at the whole notion of 2A, NRA and AR-15s. What can be done? America is America and people love their guns. It’s toothpaste out of the tube and it can’t be put back in. Just like that, the conversation is over, the imagination unutilized.
We’ve got the starting point all wrong here. If someone identifies as Christian — that is, as someone who has devoted their life toward the communal-focused work of the Spirit in the world and someone who finds the Bible helpful to inform those ends — then Christian ideals must be the starting point. And that’s one area where we’ve lost our imagination.
Our eyes must be opened for the way things should be in order to be properly oriented when working within the way things are. We allow our imaginations to be shaped in a super-natural way so that terms like “realistic” are no long applicable in a natural setting. It isn’t until we realize that the Christian imagination is one in which evil people can be stopped, that every sword will one day be turned into a plowshare, that we might find our way through this.
Imagination is also what’s missing in so many other areas of this subject. We can’t picture politicians actually made to be accountable so we lack the imaginative vote. Our view of the “other” has been reduced to something two-dimensional, so our imaginations refuse to allow them to be real people on the other side of an issue. Again and again, our imaginations fail us and yet we wonder why cycles repeat themselves.
Some will refuse imagination at this stage willingly. Money is made in these spaces. Power is grabbed in these halls. The imaginations for some are only used to selfish ends of security or shut down out of fear. But I’d love to believe there’s a greater amount of us in the middle who might be willing to say or do *something* if we actually believed that something might change — even if, for now, it’s only an imaginary world.
