Hakarat Hatov: Recognizing the Good

“In a time of destruction, create something: a poem, a parade, a community, a school, a vow, a moral principle; one peaceful moment.” – Maxine Hong Kingston

“When in doubt, do something.” – Harry Chapin

About a month ago, I had the great pleasure of being present at an event sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council in St. Louis, at which my close university colleague Cheryl  received an award for her years of service, wisdom and dedication, not only to the Jewish community but to the entire community. During the ceremony, one of the speakers spoke of “Hakarat Hatov,” a Hebrew term for gratitude. It literally means, I came to learn, “recognizing the good.” And I thought to myself, that’s a pretty good place to begin.

We live in unsettled, dangerous, destructive, confusing times, and it would be easy to allow our only response to be one of resignation, of saying to ourselves and to the rest of the world, “I give up. It’s just too big. It’s just too destructive. I have nothing to offer that will make a difference.”

But such a response is lazy and not a response of faith. A response of faith allows us (perhaps propels us) to roll up our sleeves and, as Maxine Hong Kingston writes above, do something creative. Or, as I learned from listening to my musical and social justice hero Harry Chapin many years ago, “When in doubt, do something.”

My friend Cheryl uses her gifts to create and build communities and relationships, even when such relationships are sometimes fraught with misunderstandings, prejudices and anger. She wades into the water and gets people talking. When in doubt, do something. Recognize the good.

My sister Dianne packages up school supplies and sends them (or even drives them) to reservation schools in Arizona and South Dakota. She knows she’s not changing the whole world or system but refuses to be stopped or controlled by those kinds of numbing and destructive thoughts. When in doubt, do something. Recognize the good.

My friend Jill teaches her students what it means to be a good leader and how to find and embrace joy in the midst of the rigors and stress of an elite research university. Some of these students come from extreme poverty and some from extreme privilege, but they all need to learn these lessons. She may not transform each and every one of those lives and there are only so many students that fit in a classroom, but she uses the time, space and opportunities she has been given to make a difference. When in doubt, do something. Recognize the good.

My son Jon created Switch Coffee with two friends to “switch perceptions” of those in our communities who need a chance to begin again after some mistakes. He and his partners are creating jobs for ex-offenders, conversations around issues of inequality and privilege and, at the same time, some pretty good coffee that allows farmers in Colombia and Papua New Guinea to make prosperity wages. When in doubt, do something. Recognize the good.

My daughter Jenny teaches second graders at St. Ann Catholic School in a poor, inner-ring suburb of St. Louis and takes part of her summer to travel to rural and remote areas of Canada to help transform people and communities through Lamp Ministry. She teaches her students to read and write, of course. But she also teaches them what it means to love and pray and dance and sing at the top of their lungs. Some will go on to great things because of her. Others will still struggle with the lives they have been dealt. That doesn’t mean Jenny will stop showing them how to learn, pray, sing and dance. When in doubt, do something. Recognize the good.

My friend Jean created Walter’s Walk, a non-profit counseling center to help individuals recover from trauma, depression and anxiety without regard to their ability to pay or their access to health insurance; my wife’s God-daughter Christy created Fearless Women, a faith-based organization specifically for women coping with anxiety; I could go on and on…

I have been gifted and surrounded by so many family, friends and colleagues who live reflective, responsive lives, who sense a call somewhere deep that their lives are meant to serve and do something good and more, despite the overwhelming knowledge that they are up against tremendous odds. Odds are just statistics, after all, and we can’t allow statistics to rule our actions and convince us that whatever we are doing isn’t worth our time because there’s too much work to do. We are created to be better than that.

When in doubt, do something. Recognize the good. Hakarat Hatov.