Seaworthy

Matthew 23:38 – “See, your house is being left to you desolate.”

After lamenting Jerusalem’s unwillingness to be comforted by Jesus or to turn back to God, he tells them that it will be left desolate. Now, the Romans did destroy Jerusalem and the temple in 70 CE, but that was decades after Jesus crucifixion. So, what’s he referring to? We find out in the next verse, so for now I want to focus on cities left desolate.

There are many cities left desolate here in the US: Cleveland, Flint, Detroit, Baltimore, to name a few. Sure, the downtown areas might be coming back economically, but go farther out. That is where the desolation is. I live in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood of Cleveland. It borders two suburbs. There are many abandoned houses or empty lots in my neighborhood. There are also many buildings on the main drag that need help. Some are boarded up and others have shops in them. Small businesses like hair salons and dry cleaners. The closest grocery stores are an Aldis and a Sav-A-Lot. The closest big grocery store is a Heinens, whose pricing resembles Whole Foods. The sidewalks are riddled with cracks, forcing wheelchairs into the street. It is clear that the city does not put money into this neighborhood in the same way they put money into downtown and luxury housing on the waterfront. It seems desolate.

In the past several years, several neighborhood groups have sprung up to work on doing what they can. Some of these projects are making progress. More importantly, they are beginning to inspire hope. Hope that people’s houses won’t be worth nothing. Hope that businesses will come in as the neighborhood begins to look less abandoned. Hope that this is not the end for this small part of Cleveland. Two of the most hopeful and inspired groups are NeighborUP and the Mt. Pleasant’s Resident Sustainability Association. We’re looking to work on our own neighborhood rather than leave because "it’s not my problem." ‘White’ people facing the same problem just left. We’re here to fight and help those around us to have hope as well.

Yet, without a simultaneous change of attitude of the city’s residents, it will be more difficult to effect lasting change. Until we recognize that we are all interconnected, anything we do is a band-aid. Working on the band-aid at the same time as we work on the underlying racism at the heart of the problem will better our chances of success. The desolation of Mt. Pleasant is not due to its current residents, but rather those ‘white’ people who chose to leave rather than have Black people for neighbors. It was the same attitude as the scribes and the Pharisees. It’s always those with power making it worse for those without.

Such use of power always leads to inner desolation, a desolation of mercy, love, and empathy. Their inner houses are desolate and that makes their lives desolate, no matter how beautiful their neighborhood. When we choose to ignore the needs of those around us, we ignore our own needs as well. We are all interconnected. A rising tide lifts all boats as long as all the boats are seaworthy. We have neglected our responsibility to make sure all the boats are seaworthy. We have neglected to take care of the needs of our brothers and sisters. When we make all the boats seaworthy, all the neighborhoods will be desirable places to live.