I'm Back!

I haven't been blogging because I've been on vacation, and now I'm back.  Ready for 2012 and happy that 2011 is finito.  Good riddens!  I was so tightly wound by the end of last semester that I thought I might spontaneously combust on the long flight overseas.  Luckily, that didn't happen, and I came back relaxed, rejuvenated, and ready for real life again.

Today is MLK Jr. Day, and it seems like an appropriate day to rekindle my connection with people through the written word.  I wasn't able to participate in a service opportunity today, but I'm pleased that I have been able to make time for a short (um, VERY short) jog, yoga, and reconnecting with several friends that I haven't seen in over a month...if not longer.  Self-care and community were important values to Dr. King, and I've been keeping his words with me in all I'm doing today.   In a sermon from 1967, Dr. King talked about the "Three Dimensions of a Complete Life":  

And there are three dimensions of any complete life to which we can fitly give the words of this text: length, breadth, and height.  Now the length of life as we shall use it here is the inward concern for one's own welfare.  In other words, it is that inward concern that causes one to push forward, to achieve his own goals and ambitions.  The breadth of life as we shall use it here is the outward concern for the welfare of others.  And the height of life is the upward reach for God.  Now you got to have all three of these to have a complete life.

Completeness is increasingly hard in our schizophrenic world that values multi-tasking more than disciplined concentration and singular focus.  That's certainly not news.  But one thing I think sets Dr. King apart from a singular agenda of nonviolent social change is his consistent attention to pro-people ethics that drive his radical call for change.  I continue to think about what it means to truly be pro-people when it is all too easy--and encouraged and rewarded--to be more goal-oriented than people-oriented, as just one example.

The spring semester starts tomorrow, and I'll be thinking about this as I delve into the depths of abstract critical theory and struggle to come out of it sometimes.