What would America look like if we were to remember this day every day?
What would America look like if we were to recognize that, despite all our differences, we will all, one day, suffer and die, or experience both at the same time?
What would America look like if we were to live life every day like it’s a memorial of, for, and by people — embracing, loving and remembering each other as if we were already gone from this earth?
If we were to remember that tears fall from my eyes just like yours;
If we were to remember that tragedy hits my family just like yours;
If we were to remember that life is but a moment and at any moment someone or something could take it away.
Oh, what a day it will be when we gather together and embrace humanity for all its pain and suffering, all its wounds and scars, all its humanity.
Oh, what a day it will be when we gather together as a nation beyond days of death, lament, tragedy, strife and infamy.
Oh, what a day it will be when we have a collective remembrance of humanity that doesn’t come and go once a year but endures until the rising of the sun and going down of the same.
Surely we are not a nation that only comes together to suffer.
Surely we are not a nation that only embraces humanity after it’s too late.
Or are we?
Oh, what a day it will be when we recognize that we are all still on those planes…
Christian G. Crawford is from Birmingham, Alabama. He received his B.S. in Political Science from Auburn University at Montgomery and is currently a candidate for a Master of Theological Studies at Vanderbilt University. He wrote, “Where is your theology? An internal political assessment,” published by Yellowhammer in 2018. In 2015, Crawford conducted an impromptu prayer at his high school graduation that went viral across the country, and the world. That prayer led him to be featured in numerous news and media articles, and it also allowed him to appear on local and regional news outlets such as “Good Day Alabama” on Fox 6, “Good Morning America” on Fox and Friends, and more.
