Opinion
Looking into a mirror
By Harry Davidson
We cannot see our own faces unless looking into a mirror. This issue of Humanity News highlights some sobering statistics about us as Alaskans, and is intended to be just that, a mirror. These numbers were made by our lives. They reveal us as Alaskans, as communities scattered throughout our great land—the difficult, painful and dark side of our lives, both individually and collectively.
They can be interpreted socially, pointing out our failures at caring for one another and calling us to strengthen the social institutions that confront these problems every day. They can be interpreted psychologically, revealing an uncomfortable picture of the absence of mental health and psychological well being in our midst, and cause us to ask hard questions about the effectiveness of our mental health care system.
These would be legitimate questions. Certainly they are areas of great concern when gazing into the mirror. All of these statistics have a social and psychological dimension. But if we are to dare to stare deeply into this mirror, ultimately we must see that at their root these numbers are pointing to something more fundamental, something that goes to the very root and ground of who we are. Ultimately we must come to terms with the spiritual implications of the statistics.
We must be willing to see the face in the mirror as spiritually anemic and vacant. We must be willing to embrace and own up to what these numbers are saying about our spiritual condition as individuals, as Alaskans and as communities. If we can do that, and it will take great courage, to be sure, then there is hope. There is hope that the endless cycle of failure and defeat at all the levels of our lives can be turned around.
There is an ancient Greek work for what needs to happen in all of us if deep change is going to take place. It is “metanoia.” It means a change of direction, a change of heart and mind. It also contains the aspect of sorrow. Not destructive sorrow, but rather the kind that rises from our depths when we know that we have completely missed the mark set for our lives. A change of heart and mind grounded in a deep sense of sorrow for our failures would bring renewal and a spiritual awakening. It would release the creative and healing power necessary to bring lasting and permanent change. If we can embrace metanoia in its full meaning, we will see lives and communities spiritually transformed. That is what the face in the mirror longs for.
Harry Davidson was born in Kodiak, raised in Southwest Alaska, and is now a business owner in Anchorage.