Waterlily Pond: Green Harmony  |  Claude Monet, 1899

Claude Monet, a French Impressionist, lived in Giverny and filled his canvases with his garden. This bridge scene is a study of light and reflection within the subtle play of color and texture that surrounded his life. This is a bridge connecting beauty to beauty, inviting walks of calm purpose and serenity. A crossing of this bridge could be steps to an improved view or a new creational space. This could be a crossing of peace and possibility.

And not all bridges are alike. Some do not attach complimentary places. Some serve as failed attempts to join the distinctions at each end and crossings can range from boring to threatening. Bridges can encase harsh divisions. Lines drawn in hate or fear or ignorance can land on bridges to block the peaceful and purposeful. As must be obvious, I’m thinking today of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, a large arching structure that once reflected division and prejudice in its very steel. For many, crossing that bridge was a walk into the violence of determined segregation and injustice.

I hope the Edmund Pettus Bridge might be completely transformed now. I hope this marker of history and hatred might continue to become a place of education, healing, confession and forgiveness with a new name, a new dream, a new sacrifice. Letting go of hatred might feel like a sacrifice. But maybe, just maybe, if the choice is made and the prayer is answered this sacrifice could be like crossing over a certain bridge in a French garden to a new and beautiful view.

May we all walk over the John Lewis Bridge someday soon, holding the old photographs of his 1965 crossing in mind, and repeatedly thanking him by name. May we walk over that arch keeping the faith and each other’s hands even when we cannot see the other side because, we know, it bends toward justice.

In hope and faith,

Sandy Prouty