Make Room

Picture Moses.

I don’t know his last name, but he grew up in a palace, became a fugitive, saw a burning bush, stood up to a king and led 600,000 Hebrews out of Egypt. Yes, that Moses.

When history books describe Moses, they tell us about his anger issues — and reference the time he killed a man and when he pissed God off by striking a rock twice in disobedience. But these history books don’t speak enough about how Moses got to a height of frustration that caused him to react badly.

Now, picture Rosa Parks.

The Black woman who defied Montgomery city laws in 1955 by refusing to stand up from a bus seat reserved for Caucasians — a single act of defiance that led to nationwide protests and a civil rights movement that still exists. We all know about this particular story, but most of us don’t know about the incident that occurred 12 years earlier.

In 1943, Parks boarded a bus. But the bus driver told her she had to exit and reenter the bus through the back door because Black people weren’t allowed to enter buses through the front door. When she stepped out to walk over to the back door’s entrance, the driver drove off.

The bus driver who drove off in 1943 was the same bus driver she disobeyed in 1955 when she sat in a seat reserved for Caucasians.

We often think about moments as just that, moments. And while there is a case to be made for that kind of thinking, we miss the bigger picture most times. Our world puts a lot of emphasis on reactions that happen in a moment. Our pocket cameras capture snapshots that are, in fact, bite-size of the entire story. Yet, we are quick to make conclusions and pass judgments based on those snapshots.

I wonder what our world would look like if, now and then, we all took some time to consider the entire story. I wonder if there would be more empathy to go around if we often asked questions before we wrote people off. I wonder how much better we’d be if we didn’t beat ourselves up for our mistakes but considered the actions and decisions that got us there in the first place and learnt from them.

Moses, who was dealing with the complexities of his Hebrew origin and Egyptian upbringing, killed an Egyptian slave-master who was beating up a Hebrew man. Decades later, after getting fed up with the recently-freed Hebrews’ complaints, he struck a rock twice and paid for it. We all know Moses for his reactions but not his struggles.

Parks grew up without many of the privileges most of us have today because she was Black. After the incident in 1943, she swore never to ride a bus driven by that driver. But coincidentally, when she was completely fed up and took a stand (or seat), it was the same driver, and her reaction that day made the news.

Ironically, Moses and Parks were introverts. You would think they were outspoken, but no, they were reserved people who reacted at an instance after living in frustration for years. I’m not advocating for anger or defiance of city laws. Instead, I’m imploring you to consider the entire story when we make conclusions about ourselves and others.

In a world that feeds off reactions and snapshots, we need more room for facts, consideration, and introspection. And that starts with you and me. Make room