Healing more than Fixing

As a Christian, I believe that all of life has been impacted negatively by the Fall; Romans 8:22 refers to the "whole creation ... groaning" under the curse of sin. This biblical concept is affirmed through everyday life. It is easy to spot creation groaning today: a pandemic, racism, police brutality, climate change, pollution, political corruption, and I could go on and on. Our world is broken, and I have more often than not referred to this groaning as "brokenness." At least until recently.

In Steven Garber’s book A Seamless Life, he refers to this concept as the “wounded world” instead of the "broken world." While this may seem like an insignificant difference, I am reminded again how much words matter. Sometimes paradigms pivot on a word, and that is what has happened for me.

The phrase "wounded world" is pregnant with meaning, and significantly richer than "broken world."

Broken or Wounded

Clearly our world is broken as it is not working like it should. Work is toilsome rather than joyful, wickedness and greed is rewarded instead of virtue, and families are broken (yes, we literally use that term). From Adam’s Fall, the world has been broken and in need of fixing. Although we clearly understand this perspective, this is a very industrial (and American) perspective. If I see something that is not working optimally with efficiency and effectiveness, it needs to be fixed. 

However, "broken" is a passive term that implies something not working properly.  "Wounded world," on the other hand, implies the creation being actively and violently attacked.  

A wounded world is a more accurate description of the world’s fallen state and, especially, Satan’s continual assault. Sin did not just break the world at the Fall, it is an ongoing infliction of pain and suffering by Satan. Like brokenness, we can see examples of creation being wounded wherever we look. When a person demeans a group of people with a racial slur, people are wounded, (and Satan is the only one truly laughing). When a husband is tempted to look at pornography, it is an active attack to wound a marriage. When a company pollutes a river to increase their financial bottom line, it is greed's power wounding the creation. When a prayer group turns into a gossiping circle, relationships are wounded by Satan’s subtle whispering. The problems being faced in 2020, like COVID-19, racism, rioting, political divisions, and corrupt leaders, are each a result of the Fall and are actively contributing to wounding the world. 

Fixing or Healing

Not only is our overall view of the Fall impacted by using a different word, so is our response, and I propose this is the more influential shift. When I see something broken, I simply want to fix it; if I see the same item as wounded, I am challenged at a deeper level to heal it. While “fixing” needs to happen, healing connotes a much richer and more personal interaction with what is fallen.

The broken needs fixing to help it run properly again. I can “fix” something with very little personal investment in the broken item. It is actually getting easier to fix things, thanks to YouTube. When my car breaks down, I look up how to fix it, and it usually involves removing a broken part, discarding it, and replacing with a new part (okay, I am speaking theoretically; it is very unlikely that I will be able to fix it, but you get my point). I can fix a yard filled with weeds (clearly a result of the Fall) by pulling the weeds. However, my “fixing” is at a superficial level. Marriages also break because of sin, and, unfortunately, our mindset is similar to fixing a car ... remove the broken part and replace it with something new.

What a difference a word makes! If I think of broken things as wounded things, my paradigm (and the accompanying call to action) changes significantly. My perspective becomes instantly deeper to restoring a car, a yard, or a marriage ... healing these aspects of a fallen world. Wounded things need healing, and that takes a personal investment, an active compassion. Think of a nurse caring for a wounded soldier through months of rehabilitation or an elderly spouse caring for his wife stricken by Alzheimer’s, or the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37) ... they are not just fixing something that is broken, they are providing healing and wholeness. Remember the term used in Romans 8? "Groaning" aligns much more with being wounded than being broken.

Healing our Schools

My blog usually addresses topics that relate to education ... so how does this change of a word translate to education? Sin impacts schools, and it is easy to see examples of this in our teaching, learning, processes, and reactions ... in addition to the fallen people who fill the classrooms and hallways. So, do schools need fixing or healing? I've heard that we need to fix school much more than I've heard we need to heal schools, but let's look at these words in a school setting. 

The first thing that comes to mind is classroom management and discipline. As a principal, I can fix a student who misbehaves through detentions, suspensions, and expulsions, but am I really “fixing” anything? Maybe I am fixing the situation similar to when I fix a car ... remove the broken part. Restorative Practices is a "healing rather than fixing" approach to discipline. A healing perspective in school discipline is primarily concerned about restoring broken relationships, taking the time to listen well, asking deep questions to uncover wounds, and intentionally designing the discipline from a discipleship mindset ... to, ultimately, bring healing and restoration.

Teaching and learning is also impacted by the Fall as learning can be difficult, students and teachers can become frustrated, and it is easy to blame each other for the lack of student success. Some teachers will “fix” the brokenness in student understanding and parent complaints by decreasing the rigor of the class, inflating grades, or letting gaps in understanding slide without correction or re-teaching. You could say that these teachers "fixed" the problem, but did they really fix anything? Teachers with a healing paradigm will care deeply about student learning, identify the wounds in understanding, take the time to meet with each struggling student to assess the confusion, scaffold and rebuild a faulty foundation, and design specific lessons/homework so that a student can be restored to the level of understanding. Excellent teachers are healers not just fixers who will continue to challenge and support students to prepare them fully for the next level. 

Encouraging students to embrace a wounded world perspective involves hard work. Most students have a broken world perspective, and they will take the quickest and easiest route to fixing the problem ... as they’ve been taught their entire life. However, quick fixes usually result in more problems and little holistic healing. The complexity of the Fall and how it manifests itself in multi-faceted problems cannot be easily fixed (regardless of what you read on social media). Instead of fixing the problem quickly, educators and schools should structure learning so that students are required to look at the root causes of problems (which is sin) and seek answers that heal. This paradigm shift will lead to deep learning, restorative projects, and final assessments that make a difference in the community. 

I have confidence in both educators and students that we can shift from "fixing the broken" to "healing the wounded." It may mean that our schools need to look more like hospitals and rehab centers than factories and repair shops, but there is nothing wrong with that. 

This simple switch of a word can lead to significant changes in schools and the world. To be counter-cultural on this matter is a daunting task, but an important one to undertake.

Masks and Flannery O'Connor

To wear a mask or not to wear a mask ... that is the question. I am unsure about what to think about mask wearing. You can quickly Google and find half a dozen articles that "prove" that mask wearing is ineffective, and you can find equal numbers of articles supporting the benefits of wearing them. Regardless, of what side you land on, most of the pro-mask arguments concede that wearing masks is more to protect others than to protect yourself. This was one of the first things that I heard about masks.  Along with the mask requirements, we were implored to "Don't wear a mask for yourself", but do it for others (The Atlantic, April 22, 2020). 

I think that may be the problem. Let me explain.

Our culture in 21st Century America is very self-centered. It is difficult to get people to act unless there is a direct self-benefit. 

I wonder if we would be more inclined to wear masks if the opposite was true; what if wearing a mask was a guaranteed protection from contracting COVID-19 (or any disease)? I bet we'd see a higher percentage of people wearing masks in public. However, we are asked to wear a mask to protect others, and that argument just hasn't been embraced by some (most) in our country. Although this can be (and has been) presented as a way to "love your neighbor" (Jesus' second greatest commandment), many Christians refuse to wear a mask ... I know that the issue is complicated, but the act of putting a mask on is a simple one.

Americans deeply value our freedoms and wearing a mask, for some, has turned into an attack on those freedoms. This is not new; we've seen this with protests against seat belt laws in the 1980s ("Before Face Masks, Americans Went to War Against Seatbelts") and, more recently, against motorcycle helmet laws ... and both of those are intended to protect the individual wearing the safety item. Knowing that about America, of course, we are going to see objections when required to wear a mask that protects others. Of course, it doesn't help the cause when high profile public figures refuse to "mask up" in public. 

This debate reminds me of Flannery O'Connor's short story, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own." The title is the key to unlocking the themes in this story, and it comes from a road sign in the story that reads, "Drive Carefully: The life you save may be your own."

                                                    

The genesis of this story title comes from a safe driving billboard campaign in the 1950's that targeted our human nature towards self-preservation. Those charged with promoting public safety knew their audience, i.e., more people will drive carefully to protect themselves than to protect others.

You need to read this classic O'Connor story (pdf linked above), so I won't spoil it for you, but as you read, remember the title and its not so subtle hint about our sinful human nature and our bent towards self-centeredness and away from self-sacrifice.

I'm not sure how helpful this blog has been to answering the original question of "to wear a mask or not to wear a mask." However, as O'Connor would suggest, because of our human nature, "mask laws" will be difficult to enforce unless definitive evidence comes out that face coverings protect the person wearing it. 

Regardless of your personal or political position on masks, we should all reflect on how, in our time (like in O'Connor's time), we can deny our natural self-centeredness and make sacrifices for others.