When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. - Isaiah 1:15
“Your hands are full of blood.” That is the one phrase I cannot stop thinking about.
My hands get cold and I get chills because there is a profound truth to those words, one I do not want to admit: I am complicit in the systems that perpetuate violence and oppression around the world.
All I need to do is look at the clothes I am wearing and the food I am eating: the Chinese kids who made my sweatshirt, the Guatemalan women who get $1 for making my pants, the plastic that it took to make my sneakers and will end up in the ocean, the coffee that was underpaid and took so much gas to transport…
My hands are full of blood.
How are you participating in systems of oppression?
How can we shift from complicity to solidarity?
Share a thought in the comments below. Or if you are too shy for that, share us with a friend.
Small habitual changes. That's what I've been thinking about lately. How do I support someone locally rather than a large corporate entity? How do I reach out and connect rather than expect connection to find me.