ISBC 28 - Hopeful Stories Need Tricksters
Chapter 28 of Hope: A User's Manual
The trickster, the underdog, is essential for hopeful fiction. It’s the tricksters that disrupt the status quo, that relentlessly fight for survival for themselves and their people. Tricksters are the ants in the pants of hope.1
So I walked out front of our house a few weeks ago and heard something up on our roof and I turned to see this.
One of our children was on the roof with a gigantic wooden spoon (don’t ask...it’s a long story) and was poking around and tapping on the roof with it. I stood there and watched for a few moments before saying something akin to, “ahoy there...um... anything I should know about?” I wasn’t upset or concerned with what I was witnessing - it just is the reality of this wonderful young person. You see, they’ve always been a bit of the trickster in our family - loves playing practical jokes, has an amazing sense of comic timing, and brilliant with puns. There are many stories that I could tell, but throughout this young person’s life, they’ve keep us on our toes and undoubtedly will continue to do so as the years continue to pass.
When I read MaryAnn’s comments about the trickster, I immediately thought of my kid and two other people. You see, our kid isn’t just about goofy pranks but instead they want to really poke that giant spoon into the gears of unjust society, of inequalities, and of practices that are harming our environment. They want to see change happen in this world and they aren’t going to be satisfied until it comes. And we love them for it.
There are others who have exemplified this spirit - too many to name, but as I said there were two others that came to my mind. One is the recently-deceased civil rights leader and politician, John Lewis. From his earliest work as a part of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and after, Lewis wasn’t about stirring up trouble for trouble’s sake but instead stirring up GOOD trouble for the sake of the good, the just, and the beautiful. I love this tweet he shared in 2018.
Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.
Whether he was marching across the Pettis Bridge in Selma, Alabama or staging a sit in in the US Capitol in 2016 when he (and others) were protesting congressional inaction on gun control, Lewis was the trickster who caused good trouble and stirred things up.
But Lewis’ inspiration was not just in the other Civil Rights leaders who he served with but it was with one who we don’t often think of as a trickster. The contemporary depictions of Jesus portray him as so much less than the revolutionary, prophetic, trickster figure that he was. There are some of the stories that we have of Jesus that seem like Jesus said and did things just to stir things up. Jesus caused LOTS of good trouble in his actions and in his teachings. It isn’t always easy to see in the super-formalized translations of the Jesus stories that we have, but he was a trickster through and through.
Hope can rise out of the stirred and swirling waters of good trouble. So what’s some good trouble you can do today to stir some hope?
Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed
McKibben Dana, MaryAnn. Hope: A User's Manual (p. 125). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.
A trickster does tend to create that element of surprise! Being open to the unexpected element of surprise can give hope a sweet sense of delight. It can also overwhelm if things just don’t go as planned. My youngest was the trickster in our family—but ole Mom, the more literal thinker would often be “played.” He still plays me on the regular and he says it’s “because (you’re) so EASY!” At least I usually laugh!
Thanks! I needed that!