Being Safe, Bringing Peace, by The Rev. Kaji Douša

We each got a safety pin in church yesterday with the following invitation:

If you want one, be ready. Consider holding it as an amulet in your pocket, a reminder that we’re ready to change things, starting with ourselves. If we really want to be safe, we need to make things safer for all people, which might mean giving up some of our own privileges. Once we each have one concrete way we will work to make things safer for others, then consider wearing the pin.

If we’re safe allies, we respond to people’s receipt of our gesture without anxiety. If the safety pin feels like an empty promise to someone, we listen and hear where they’re coming from. We aren’t wearing the pin for accolades, we’re wearing it because we’re ready to make the world more loving.