Would I?

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Would I have mocked Noah for building a boat?

Would I have sided with David or Saul?

Would I have followed Jeremiah?

Would I have followed Christ?

Would I have believed he was resurrected?

Those are the religious what if questions I ask all the time about my faith and experience. And if we’re being intellectually honest we don’t know the answer. We can hope. But we don’t know for sure. We can’t know.

It gets even more challenging when I start addressing the historical examples.

Would I have fought for or against Roman invasion and occupation of the lands of my ancestors?

Would I have gone on crusades?

Would I go to the New World or would I have stuck in out in the Motherland?

Would I have participated in Witch Trials?

Would I have joined the Continental Army or been a loyalist?

Would I have supported or opposed ratification of the constitution?

Would I have supported abolition?

Would I stay in the Union, join the confederacy or ignore the war?

Would I have homesteaded and settled the west? 

Would I have volunteered during World War I, World War II?

Would I have supported women’s suffrage?

Would I have marched for civil rights?

You can see where I’m going with this. I’ve had ancestors and relatives who’ve been on both sides of the these debates and moments in history. I like to think that I would always have been for social justice, reform, freedom, et cetera. But my own history isn’t as straightforward.

I opposed gay marriage in the beginning but came around on it. I was torn on Prop 8 but wholeheartedly supported the Respect for Marriage Act. 

I used to bury my head in the sand about racial inequality. Then I learned and did research. And met people whose experiences were far from my own. It was the same with immigration issues.

It’s my fear that I wouldn’t have supported the causes I do now without the education and opportunity to meet people that challenged my stereotypes. And if I was plopped somewhere in history would I have the opportunity? 

I honestly don’t know.

That doesn’t terrify me anymore. It used to. Now it doesn’t. But it makes me ponder, and hope that now I can be on the right side of history when it comes to equality and fighting for progress. 


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