Bending the Arc

On July 4, 2026, the United States of America will commemorate and celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Each month, we will share an article inviting reflection on this anniversary, the current state of our democracy, and our personal role in its maintenance. 

We have all heard politicians and pundits alike proclaim at every shooting, every violent act or unseemly behavior: “This is not who we are! We are better than this.”

I beg to differ. I believe that this IS who we are. None of us likes to admit it, but it’s true. As a human being, I am a mixed bag of behaviors, of good and evil, of strengths and weaknesses, of kindness and cruelty and I never know which behavior will emerge from that bag at any given moment. Some of us spend our lives slowly opening this bag, owning who we are a little at a time if we can be honest with ourselves and keep growing into higher levels of human consciousness. Unfortunately, a few of us get stuck somewhere along the way, end up in denial and stop growing.

Beyond my humanity, I am a Catholic Christian, so my mixed bag further contains the metaphors and realities of light and darkness, sin and forgiveness, death and resurrection, inertia and transformation—to my constant chagrin and humility. Some of us spend our lives trying to balance these polarities, embracing our True Selves in the process while God works to make us whole. Again, a few of us get stuck at some point, perhaps, for example, narrowly thinking that our faith tradition is the only, true way to God or some other dogmatic theory that traps us in its claws.

But the mixed bag gets much heavier when I get to my identity as a citizen of the United States of America. This bag is filled with 250 years of shadow and glory, slavery and freedom, genocide and manifest destiny, racism and diversity, poverty and obscene wealth, honest work and corruption, imperialism and equality of nations, war and some semblance of peace—and everything in between.

In each of these “identities” or levels of being, how does one grow to fullness, to wholeness? I think it has something to do with acknowledging the past and how that has affected the present, the NOW, of my life, our life together, and how that might affect the trajectory of the future of my life, our life together. So, as a human, I must come to grips with my family history, my ancestors, my cultural ways so that I understand my behaviors, my shadow, my personality, my traumas and can grow beyond, not being held prisoner, but being free.

That is true for my Catholic faith tradition as well. How has the ongoing patriarchy, the colonialism, the traditionalism of the past affected my present? The abuse and its coverup? The dishonesty of it all? How has that shaped my faith life and the subsequent behaviors that emerge from my bag? How can I lay them at the feet of God and be free? My contemplative and apostolic life as a vowed religious woman leads me forward in that quest. Present efforts in the Church to wrestle with that history also help.

Even in my 8th decade of life, I am working at the first two, accepting that I am a mixed bag of behaviors and trying to become whole. But this last bag, the one of citizenship? This bag is daunting. I have discovered that the history I learned in school 60-70 years ago was partial at best, from a white perspective, and wholly about manifest destiny. All the behaviors listed above, the shadows of our country’s existence, while very real, are not acknowledged by very many in power because it is not to their advantage. As I stated before, acknowledging our history, our roots, our past, is the first step in healing, in growth. If we cannot do that on a large enough scale, then the shadow behaviors will keep emerging over and over—the cruelty, the racism, the white supremacy, the imperialism, the corruption and greed—as we are experiencing in this very moment. It is evident to me that we have not had the wider conversations about the ugliness of some of our nation’s past, have not told ourselves the truth about our history and its effects on us, have not accepted the full narrative of who we are in reality, have not asked forgiveness nor forgiven ourselves for the pain we have inflicted on ourselves and then ignored.

So, people, pundits and politicians, stop saying,” This is not who we are!” It IS who we are. We are a mixed bag of shadow and goodness. Some of us have not even opened the bag of our own humanity much less our own faith tradition, whatever that may be. Many, if not most, have certainly not engaged in the conversations we so desperately need to have on our country’s mixed bag of historical and ongoing behaviors. We tend to be mired in American exceptionalism. In the split screen playing out before our eyes right now, we tend to see only the goodness of our neighbors taking care of each other, walking each other’s children to school, shopping for groceries for each other, sounding whistles of warning for each other and not see the screen showing the reasons that make all that even more necessary than usual these days, that lay bare the fear and violence gripping those not considered “exceptional” in these days. I challenge us not to be afraid to open the three bags—that of our humanity, our faith traditions, our citizenship--and courageously yet tenderly explore their contents. Yes, it’s a humbling journey, but it’s the only way we can truly grow—and the survival, if not the thriving, of our common humanity, our many faith traditions and our beloved country depend on it.

Reflect

Questions developed by Patrice Rog, CSA

• Can I honestly and humbly explore my own “mixed bag”? What surprises me? What growth have I experienced over the years? What must I throw out of the bag? Where do I need to add to the bag?
• What idea in the essay touched me as I reflect on my past and current beliefs and assertions?
• In which narrative of our nation do I believe? What can I do to challenge our leadership to align our country’s narrative to our entire past, including both its honorable and distasteful truths?

Learn more about CSA's “US at 250” initiatives including the April 23 event featuring Justice Janine Geske.