In 1988, British writer, Roald Dahl wrote a children’s novel, Matilda. It is a story of a brilliant little girl who loves books and lives with uncaring parents. The novel has been adapted in several venues, most recently in the 2022 original Netflix film, “Matilda The Musical.”
In “Matilda The Musical” Irish, child singer, and actress, Alisha Weir, plays the lead role and sings, among other great songs, “A Little Bit Naughty.” It is her protest to being in a life story that is not fair and announces her resolve – even as a little person – to do something about it. Part of the chorus lyrics are these:
Just because you find that life’s not fair, it
Doesn’t mean you just have to grin and bear it
If you always take it on the chin and wear it
Nothing will change…
…you might as well be saying that you think that it’s okay.
And that’s not right
And if it’s not right
You have to put it right.
The often-heard phrase, “out of the mouths of babes…” comes to mind as Alisha sings those powerfully insightful words. Indeed, children speaking great truth is an ancient observation. Psalm 8:2 is evidence of this powerful thought. “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.”
In our turbulent and divisive times when a great many things are not fair and initiatives in so many things from politics to policy are often dishonest and filled with hypocrisy, we would do well not to “grin and bear it”. For to be sure, “if you always take it on the chin and wear it NOTHING WILL CHANGE”!
We are in a time when the all-too-common expressions “whatever” and “it is what it is” are more widely articulated than refusing to take it on the chin and bear it. “Whatever” and “it is what it is” are often exasperated phrases we use to resign ourselves to the idea that we are not able to do anything about the injustices and wrongs which surround us. We are just too “little” to change it or to put things right.
One of the many disconcerting things about a complacent attitude or a sense of resignation in the face of enormous obstacles is that religious, political, and social extremists – a decided minority in our society – are seeking to benefit from the prevailing “whatever” attitudes of the majority of us who are perceived as distracted, not paying particular attention, or not taking the minority effort seriously enough.
The present legislature at the Ohio Statehouse is an example. Counting on the majority of us not paying attention or too wearied by the hard work of doing anything to put it right, a strident, often corrupt, Republican right gerrymanders voting districts, enacts efforts to make voting more difficult or curtail the ability of segments of the electorate to vote.
The effort to wage a culture war and the pervasive effort to regulate curriculum in our public schools and universities is advanced because too many are thought not to be paying attention and too many are thinking the problem so big that there is nothing that can be done that will work effectively to put things right. (Hopefully the mobilization of the effort to defeat Issue 1 in Ohio’s upcoming August 8th special election will be a loud message that more and more of us are in fact, seeking to make things right and not just to grin and bear it).
There are many self-described Evangelical Christians today who have been very effective in conveying the false story that Jesus is exclusively on their side and therefore making theirs a righteous cause in working against any meaningful efforts in social inclusion and enabling a more just social fabric.
They have been successful because in the face of their bible misquoting and willful misinterpretation, many “spiritual but not religious,” and a great many more “NONES” when it comes to identifying a faith perspective, have just sighed a “whatever” or an “it is what it is” because of their own indifference to understanding the biblical record. All this has created a vacuum in which the right-wing, religious hysteria succeeds and threatens us all.
But it’s not right. It’s not okay. We must make it right.
A good place to start is to read again – or even for the first time – the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 5:1-7:27. This section of the remembered teachings of Jesus is, among other things, a 1st Century challenge to the religious extremism and sanctimonious, unyielding legal doctrine and social behavior being imposed on the majority by the self-righteous, bigoted, nationalistic racists of Jesus’ time.
Far from the Jesus whose story is being twisted and incorrectly told by many of today’s evangelical Christians, Jesus’ own story was one of resistance to religious power brokers, advocating for the marginalized, calling out the injustice of bigotry, the sin of misogyny, the horrors of entrenched religious doctrine and dogma as well as the tragic results of unchecked, nationalistic pride.
Through his entire adult life Jesus taught and lived out this message:
Just because you find that life’s not fair, it
Doesn’t mean you just have to grin and bear it
If you always take it on the chin and wear it
Nothing will change…
…you might as well be saying that you think that it’s okay.
And that’s not right
And if it’s not right
You have to put it right.
Let us join in singing this song and acting to face what is not fair and put it right.
It is what Jesus would do and most certainly did.