Now and then, we catch ourselves engaging in the “what ifs” thought process. What if I had not moved away from home? What if I had chosen a different career? What if I had my own children or more children? What if I had more faith earlier in my life?
We go through this mental exercise because we are either checking on what impact we have had on the world or if we have any regrets.
In this holiday season, we are encouraged to do mental or soul-searching exercises. I want to encourage us to ask even larger what-if questions. Such as, what if Noah did not want koalas and pandas on the ark? What if Moses did not want to come down the mountain with the Ten Commandments? What if Mary did not want a baby? The actions or non-actions of those who have gone before us do matter.
American singer India Arie wrote a piece called, “What If”: “What if Martin didn’t stand up? What if Rosa didn’t sit down? What if Maya didn’t speak out? … And Mandela didn’t come to teach us? Where would we be now? We are the ones we’ve been waitin’ for, we can change the world …” Let us bring this a little closer to home.
What if the 21 million U.S. health care workers gave up on helping save people’s lives from Covid-19? What if an estimated 3.3 million U.S. full-time and part-time public-school teachers, and 509,200 private school teachers quit because they feared the pandemic? What if the 430,790 American clergymen and clergywomen stopped caring and praying for people? Our actions or non-actions do matter.
The key to examining what-ifs successfully is to understand that we are all interconnected. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Our what-if examination needs to include others. Cesar Chavez, who united California farmworkers in the 1960s prayed, “Show me the suffering of the most miserable; So, I will know my peoples’ plight … Grant me the courage to serve others; For in service, there is true life. Let us remember those who have died for justice; For they have given us life … ”
We must not stop making an impact in this world, small or large. The message of this holiday season might be that it is our turn to keep hope, peace, joy, and love alive. Yet, we cannot achieve this if we dwell too long on the what-ifs.
Let us remember those who refused to be silent, unseated, or afraid, and remember the one who was born unto us, so that darkness would not prevail in this world (2 Corinthians 4:6) and that we may have light to walk our impactful path in life (Isaiah 9:2,6).
May the coming months be lighter and brighter, may there be more life than death, more hope than despair, more courage than fear, more faith than doubt, and fewer what-ifs.
The Rev. Darren T. Galindo is senior pastor of United Church of Christ-Judd Street.
