The Myth of the American Dream: Reflections on Affluence, Autonomy, Safety, and Power

by D.L. Mayfield

I cannot save the whole world, I cannot heal it with my own two hands. But I can live in it, I can speak the truth about where it is broken, and where it is being repaired.

I can try to be brave enough to keep noticing, even when it breaks my heart at every turn.

When someone tells you that the little flare you sent out into the world, hoping to find connection and true peace, hoping to find places of God’s love and hospitality in the world, became a spark in the dark night sky for them, you take it seriously. It’s never enough, of course. But it is a part of cultivating a holy imagination.

Growing up, I was prepared to be persecuted; I was prepared to be labeled a freak, an outsider. I was prepared to be a proud exile, certain of my outsider status. But I was not prepared for the opposite: to learn to how to mourn the systems and sins of my community, to learn how to live as a member of a society that benefits from unjust systems.