I was scrolling social media this week when I came across a quote by philanthropist Melinda Gates from her book “The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World.”
“There is a big difference between a loud voice and a strong voice. The loud voice of a man who has no inner life and is a stranger to his own grief is never a voice for justice; it’s a voice for self-interest, dominance or vengeance.”
Given the loud noise that steadily streams from the direction of our current president and his bizarre, middle-of-the-night social media posts, I couldn’t help but make a connection to him.
My guess is there are many reasons our president’s voice is so loud, not the least of which is a lack of an inner life. If we have any sort of an inner life at all, we consider the consequences of our actions on the world and people around us, and we adjust our behavior accordingly.
As far as I can tell based on reports from the media that have not capitulated to him, our current president’s every move is guided by self-interest, dominance and vengeance, with no regard for the lives or livelihoods of others.
Gates’ quotation nicely dovetails with another that I looked up and shared the night before from George Orwell’s prophetic “1984,” after Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was shot to death in Minnesota by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. It is important to note that Good was a U.S. citizen, and the visual evidence and multiple eyewitness accounts indicate that she was not exhibiting violent behavior.
“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
Orwell’s quotation is fully appropriate given the Trump administration’s efforts to control the narrative about the shooting, calling Good “a domestic terrorist” despite video footage from various angles proving otherwise.
Good was a poet. She was described by her mother in the Minnesota Star-Tribune as “one of the kindest people I’ve ever known. She was extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.”
Those who knew her said Good wasn’t loud in her activism, but she did apparently show up out of concern for her immigrant friends and neighbors. Reports indicate that she had driven to the area with her wife after dropping off her 6-year-old son at school to assess the situation.
Another quotation from Gates’ book seems appropriate here: “A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult.”
Good had a voice. As a poet, her voice would have emerged from her rich inner life. From all accounts, she used her voice for good.
Although the ICE agent representing the government physically silenced her, in the aftermath of her execution, her voice has become much stronger than she probably ever imagined possible. Americans across the country have rightfully risen up to protest her death at the hands of their own government.
All American citizens must find their voices, as difficult as that search might be, and the courage to use them – whether behind the scenes or from the rooftops.
We must do this for Renee Nicole Good.
And for the future of the United States of America.
Because at this point, every one of us is Renee Nicole Good, and our lives, our freedoms and our country are on the line.
SPIRIT MATTERS is a weekly column by Jerrilyn Zavada Novak that examines experiences common to the human spirit. Contact her at jzblue33@yahoo.com.