Progress Not Perfection

“Believe in life! Always human beings will live and progress to greater, broader, and fuller life.” ~ W. E. B. Du Bois

“We may never be strong enough to be entirely nonviolent in thought, word and deed. But we must keep nonviolence as our goal and make strong progress towards it.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

As you can see, I’m reworking my website. I’m getting ready to launch my podcast, and I wanted to have one place where my blog and podcast posts can be accessed.

The day I started this project, I was hoping to get it all set up, but of course, not being technology minded, I got only so far. My site doesn’t look the way I want it yet, but I’m determined to learn how to make it look exactly as I envision. It will take time and effort to learn how to do that.

As I walked away from my computer with what I call a technology headache, I remembered what Denzel Washington’s character, Robert McCall says to more than one of the other characters he’s helping in the movie, The Equalizer. He helps them keep moving toward their dreams by reminding them, “Remember, progress not perfection.”

It’s a violent action movie of a different kind. Robert McCall has a mysterious past. The viewer soon realizes that Robert must have been in a special military unit, or worked for the CIA, or NSA, because of his skills. But from the things he says, he has promised never to use those skills again. He’s trying to be a better person, to care for the others in a peaceful way. But then, of course, there are characters that need his special skills and he has to make a choice. Use them to help the helpless, or turn away and let them suffer.

I used to believe that there was never a reason to use violence. But as God points out to Neale Donald Walsch in Conversations With God, sometimes a person like Hitler can only be stopped by armed resistance. Those kinds of people don’t understand anything else and they won’t stop their dreams of domination unless they are stopped by force.

I hope that we are finally coming to a time when we don’t have to use force to stop people who have no regard for human lives, but I have to remember we’re in a transition period. Sometimes we may have to be like Robert McCall and use violence to stand up for people who are weaker than we are.

However, I have been encouraged to see that the recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations are mostly peaceful. That demonstrators are covering the fence around the White House with posters and artwork advocating for the end of violence against blacks, and some of the protestors are using music and dancing as part of their demonstrations.

As human beings we, hopefully, are working toward progress in our personal growth and in the establishing of more loving and equitable societies. Change is sometimes a long process. I’m happy to see the tide turning. I’m envisioning living in a peaceful society where people are too busy fulfilling their dreams to be hateful toward each other and people like Robert McCall’s character are no longer needed.

Have a blessed weekend. Thanks for reading, liking and commenting.

Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2020

Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.

Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.

The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version is published.