Conversation Point

Molly Ivins

I miss her already.

Molly Ivins, syndicated columnist with a progressive, liberal voice and a warm, spirited heart, died this past Wednesday night after battling her third round of what she called a "scorching case of breast cancer."

She will be remembered.

In a statement from The Texas Observer, a magazine for which Ivins worked over thirty years ago and loved until her last breath, it was said that, "Molly was a hero. She was a mentor. She was a liberal. She was a patriot. She was a friend. And she always will be. With Molly's death, we have lost someone we hold dear. What she has left behind we will hold dearer still." Having never met Molly Ivins, I can only say I wish I had because she inspired me to be a better person, a better writer and a better speaker of truth to power. That is a prophetic stance, you see, living in the present and calling people to take a good, hard look at what the future will hold if we don't wake up, brew some coffee and create an action plan to get things moving in the right direction again.

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus included theses words to redirect his audience to establish a new action plan as well: " You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored (Matthew 5:13)?" Obviously, Jesus had Molly Ivins at the back of his mind in crafting this strong, important image of what a difference we each make in the world, but only if we embrace and embody the seasoning that we are in our place and time. More than one tribute to Ivins has made it clear she could have joined the big leagues, working among the White House press corps or staying with The New York Times longer than she did. But she wasn't interested in running with the big dogs. She was committed to seasoning the pot and then stirring it, well and often. She never lost the desire to hold the powerful accountable and uphold the powerless in their efforts to create a better world for themselves and each other.

John Nichols, in an article published in yesterday's The Nation, said, "Keeping a promise she'd made when her old friend and fellow Texan John Henry Faulk was on his deathbed, Molly accepted a steady schedule of invites to speak for local chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union in dozens of communities, from Toledo to Sarasota to Medford, Oregon. Though she could have commanded five figures, she took no speaker's fee. She just came and told the crowds to carry on for the Constitution. 'I know that sludge-for-brains like Bill O'Reilly attack the ACLU for being 'un-American,' but when Bill O'Reilly's Constitutional rights are violated, the ACLU will stand up for him the way they did for Oliver North, Communists, the KKK, atheists, movement conservatives and everyone else they've defended over the years,' she told them. 'The premise is easily understood: If the government can take away one person's rights, it can take away everyone's." Molly Ivins understood our mutuality, our profoundly simple human connectedness, better than most. United, we stand. Divided, we will fall.

Scripture supports her observation. No matter how much we try to isolate ourselves from believing we are really in this together, we really are in this together. Hear these words from the prophet Jeremiah: "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare (Jeremiah 29:7)." We are in exile in this country as long as we pretend that we are not them and that we can protect ourselves from undeniable unpleasantness by continuing to deny it in its most basic forms. Poverty, injustice and inequality in various forms don't spring up out of nowhere. Seeking the welfare of all by seeking the welfare of each person is the simple Biblical truth of loving each other as we love ourselves, doing to others as we would have done to us.

Molly Ivins seasoned her words, stirred them well and served them to a hungry table surrounded by fellow travelers in need of nourishment, encouragement and a swift kick in the behind to get moving and do what needs to be done for our own sakes, the sake of those on the journey with us, and those who will follow.

Thank you, Molly.

posted by Cory L. Kemp @ 6:54 PM