the short-circuiting of ambivalence

feeling the way forward

at the heart of Quakerism

is both the bright light of revelation

and the short-circuiting of ambivalence:

one person speaks to a truth that seems clear

while those who hear that person have to decide

whether those words are from God

or from a poorly-programmed GPS,

the collective can be of wisdom,

though I have felt the collective

to far too often defer to inaction,

the falling into the trap 

that a lack of consensus 

as to the direction to move

is a consensus to not move,

fearing a sin in commission

and not feeling the sin in omission,

to Quakers, a clerk of a meeting

can have a major role in deliberations,

not just to be a pollster who reads where people are,

but a leader, from behind, who reads where people are,

and helps them realize where they can, and should, go.

by Henry H. Walker

January 11, ‘19