Photo by Ahmad Odeh

There are moments when my soul simply cries. The tears do not come from anger alone. They do not arise from bitterness. They come from grief for what I see when I look around at our world and at our country. Living in Central Pennsylvania became a rupture point in my life. For forty-three years, I carried the belief that certain chapters of our history had largely been left behind. What I experienced and what I witnessed disrupted that belief in ways I will never forget.

Now, when I scroll through social media and watch people divide themselves over race, something within me aches deeply. Race itself is a social construct, yet it continues to function as a powerful tool for fragmentation and hostility. Human beings separating themselves over something so superficial reveals how deeply wounded we remain as a society. The Hebrew Scriptures speak directly to this kind of inner grief. The psalmist wrote:

“How long, Adonai? Will You forget me forever?”Psalm 13:1

A similar cry appears again:

“My eyes shed streams of tears because people do not keep Your instruction.”Psalm 119:136

This is the grief I feel at times. It is a kind of soul-cry that rises when I witness the ways people harm one another, dismiss one another, and divide themselves. At the same time, I know I am not exempt from the same human struggle. My own thoughts and biases require continual examination. When a judgment or assumption rises within me about a person or group, I pause and ask myself a series of honest questions.

Why am I thinking this?Where did this assumption come from?Is this belief actually true?Is this thought aligned with His truth, compassion, and humility?

Many times, the issue does not live outside of me. The issue reveals something within me that still needs to be examined and corrected. The Hebrew Scriptures speak to this tension within human nature. One part of us moves toward division, fear, and self-protection, while the deeper self longs for what is whole, just, and good.

My soul does not celebrate division.

My soul cries when it sees it.

Perhaps that cry is not weakness at all. Perhaps it is evidence that something within us still recognizes goodness, justice, and wholeness when it sees their absence.

The real work may begin there.

It begins with each of us choosing to look inward, challenge our assumptions, and move toward humility rather than division. The healing of communities does not begin with accusation. It begins with honest reflection, personal accountability, and the courage to change.

With care,

Shenera Boodie-Wienken

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