For several mornings, I have slipped downstairs while the rest of my family was still asleep and fixed coffee to the sound of the dripping faucet. We left it running to prevent the pipes from freezing. Drip, drip, drip — it sounds like a clicking metronome.
I sip coffee while scanning the shocking, tragic headlines from Minneapolis. Overwhelmed, I switch to Substack and read firsthand accounts of people passing out donuts, delivering groceries, and offering child and pet care. Such small acts, similar to drips of water, were performed with the hope of “melting ICE.” The dedication of countless Minnesotans provides an antidote to the despair of the national headlines. They are heroes.
I typically associate heroism with extraordinary individuals who accomplish remarkable feats. The monks who walk for peace come readily to mind. Yet, they are only able to travel great distances one step at a time. Step by step, like drip after drip, makes a difference.
A Substack post led me to the “Letter from Minnesota” by poet Dobby Gibson. Across Minneapolis and Saint Paul, neighbors have formed networks of solidarity to witness and report the human atrocities. “We wear whistles now,” Gibson writes. “Each whistle summons more whistles, a chorus of witnesses…” That reminded me of the scripture about “a great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1). The injustices seem more overwhelming the more alone and isolated I feel. A chorus or cloud evokes the moral power of collective witness.
Later in the day, I called my senators and asked that they withdraw the obscene funding for ICE, which has a budget larger than the amount most countries spend on their entire military.
But before dawn, when the temperatures were still freezing cold, I listened to the clicking of the dripping faucet, and I gave thanks for every hero who offers sacrifices for peace, one step and one whistle at a time.
Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of the book with Wipf and Stock Publishers titled This Is the Day: A Year of Observing Unofficial Holidays about Ampersands, Bobbleheads, Buttons, Cousins, Hairball Awareness, Humbugs, Serendipity, Star Wars, Teenagers, Tenderness, Walking to School, Yo-Yos, and More. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina where he is a student of joy.
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