Tom Adams
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On May 25, it will be four years since George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis policemen. He was not the first Black person to be killed for no reason, and sadly he will likely not be the last. The vivid scene of the police with their knee on his neck choking him to death while he called to his mom was burnt into our minds and hearts.
After the launch of my new story collection, Universally Adored and Other One Dollar Stories (published by Vine Leaves Press), my friend and fellow writer Tom Adams invited me to submit a guest blog post for Critical Conversations, and I thought I should focus on hope.
Nature and the faiths of the world all take delight in springtime. Today I’d like to share some reflections on how faith deepens and widens my ability to see and participate in the rituals of spring and thereby deepen my desire to love.
Editor’s Note: This week’s guest author courageously raises a challenging question for white Christians particularly and for all others committed to a world based on love and justice. My friend, anti-racist educator and activist A. Adar Ayira, decries the lack of response to the widespread Christian support for Donald Trump and his racist, oppressive policies. Adar is a founding member of Baltimore Racial Justice Action and the founder of Ayira Core Concepts LLC. Adar and her colleague Rebecca Pobee will join Racial Justice Conversations on Wednesday, May 1 at 5pm eastern time on Zoom to discuss this blog. For info on this session and the Zoom link, email me at [email protected].
Human life is a precious gift, beautiful and sacred. The very air sings the vibrancy of humanity– the cooing of a baby, the laughter of children, shared conversations, different cultures, and the worth of each person. Supporting the value and sanctity of life is paramount to the moral and spiritual health of a nation. But what constitutes life? Whom do we value and whom do we discard? Currently, in our culture, there are two divergent ideas of the sanctity, and the importance of life. We are living a spectrum, where on one end is the life of a woman, her needs and her right to choose whether or not she can support a pregnancy, and on the other end is the right of an unborn child to live.
Editor’s Note: This week’s post focuses on a recently released document of the Catholic Church which continues a pattern of claiming to respect all human life and then disrespecting and condemning some people through its teachings and their interpretations. I am sharing the statement of Frank DeBernardo in response to this recent document, particularly as it applies to transgender people. Frank’s message is a simple and direct one that emphasizes love and respect for all. This lesson has broad application for all of us – as individuals and as institutions. Frank, and I concur, finds it hard to accept any Church taking positions that preach love and respect for all and then uses out-of-date science and theology that disrespect and harm people. Frank’s message below provides practical lessons for all. There is an irony that the Vatican issued this statement on Monday, April 8 the day after proclaiming the preceding Sunday Mercy Sunday, a celebration of the always-available mercy and forgiveness of God.
Spring is prime time for people of three major faith traditions – Muslims, Jews, and Christians. This week’s post explores my recent experience of Easter as a Christian in the larger context of these three faith traditions.
If you’ve seen one nonprofit board, you’ve seen one nonprofit board. There are those that drive change and those that prevent it. Boards that raise money and boards that don’t. Those living in the weeds and those that function at nosebleed heights.
March is Women’s History Month. This week’s post reflects on what that might mean to each of us. Designating a time to focus on the role of women got its start with the first International Women’s Day on March 8, 1911. In the United States, the School Board in Sonoma County CA expanded attention to women’s history from one day to a week of events in 1978. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter declared the week of March 8 National Women’s History Week in the United States. In 1987, Congress made this celebration permanent and expanded it to the full month of March.
The organizations we live and work in every day are highly complex and multi-dimensional with many moving parts and diverse personalities, perspectives, and interests. They’re also interdependent with the volatile and complex world beyond their walls. As a consultant to nonprofit organizations, I’m hyper-aware of the forces that continually buffet them – vagaries in the political environment that impact their funding, social and economic forces that impact their clients, the many impacts of the pandemic, and the impact of generational differences in the workplace, to name just a few.
Tom Adams writes and speaks on topics vital to the intersection of our personal lives with our community and global lives. He has for decades been engaged in and written about nonprofit leadership and transitions, spirituality and spiritual growth, how we each contribute to a more just and equitable world and recovery from addictions and the Twelve Step recovery movement.