Visionary?

Friends,

I admit to often being too hopeful and optimistic, so my friend asked me recently whether I considered myself an idealist or a visionary? "Good question," I replied.

The dictionary definition of idealism is "the practice of forming or pursuing ideals, especially unrealistically." A kind of a impractical dreamer, we might say. I don’t like the “unrealistic” limitation, so I looked toward labeling myself a visionary. 

And the dictionary defines a visionary as "someone who thinks about or plans the future with imagination and wisdom. Or a visionary is someone with the ability to imagine how a society, country, industry, etc., will develop in the future." Now that’s better. And, yes, I can own the title of at least a visionary wanna-be.

My whole life, as with many of you, I have tried to figure out how to improve my immediate and extended world. Most of my work has been to try to envision how we can better address issues of injustice, most particularly poverty, criminal justice, prisons, and war. I think of myself as having a prophetic vision, or more importantly, a prophetic imagination. I try to envision what is wrong and alternatively, what could be. My reflections most often begin with a troubling awareness of the harm we do to one another and what could be some imaginative, possible approaches to address the harm. An equitable tax code, for example, could more fair distribute wealth that would address much of the problems of poverty. And then I think of civil rights, or advocating for restorative justice rather than punitive justice, or envisioning a world where war is avoided and eventually abolished, 

I resist calling myself an idealist, although my ideas often begin with just wishful thinking. But the reality of many of my idealistic dreams became more visionary and futuristic because they were simply ahead of their time, not just dreams. During my career I have been part of significant, and often considered highly unlikely, social goals in the foreseeable future. Among others I think of the transformation of societal acceptance and celebration of the LGBTQ community. Improbably idealistic at first; it morphed into visionary and success remarkably soon thereafter (albeit in spite of many frustrating delays).

And for over thirty years I have successfully promoted the paradigm of restorative justice (not just what law is broken, but what harm is done, and how do we heal the harm) to the point where it is now being applied not only in the criminal justice field, but in a range from individual counseling to the Truth and Reconciliation programs that are healing societal brokenness and estrangement across the globe.

At a tragically less successful goal of addressing war, I have marched, fasted, lobbied, and promoted anti-war efforts to prevent deadly conflict, and even though these efforts seem thwarted in the face of the Palestinian and Ukraine wars, the world is just now beginning to recognize the crucial importance and compliance with international law and the International Court of Justice. I truly believe the horror of these wars and the failure of diplomatic intervention will lead to new possibilities in conflict management.

My point this evening is that even in the few decades of my life’s ministry and social activism I have been part of some major society changes toward greater justice and humane treatment as have each of you as some level. I think we can claim some visionary role during our lifetimes.  

Much of the divisions in our nation are attributable to the sense that we no longer can claim a shared a devotion to common vision. We are no longer a country of committed visionaries - even to democracy. And the biblical quote from Proverbs offers us a contemporary stark warning: “Where there is no vision, the people perish." In these last years of my life I want to be faithfully committed to the vision of a more just and peaceful world, one without war, that honors a vision of a restored and sustained Great Commons of our sacred blue earth. We all need to be visionaries.

Peace,
Tom