“The time is always right to do what is right.”

-Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

– Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

On Monday, January 20, 2025, we will celebrate Dr. King’s birthday and honor his visionary legacy of equality, freedom, commitment, and courage.

It’s also inauguration day. The irony this time is sickening. Most of you already know how I feel about this swearing-in — appalled, frightened, helpless, and furious.

My hope is that I will be able to lean into the powerful example of the former in order to be able to deal somehow with the latter. The quotes above offer some comfort and guidance. Do what’s right as best we can. Stay present. Try not to get too overwhelmed by the gazillion variables beyond our control. Avoid catastrophic speculation about everything unknown and uncertain. Put one foot in front of the other.

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I’ve been thinking about simplicity and complication, the pluses and minuses of each, wondering how to have the best of both.

Sometimes, I’m really drawn to complexity. I like intricacy and puzzles, gray areas and ambiguity. I can see connections, the way that everything touches everything, how one thing always leads to countless others. And thus it seems like the Ultimate Truth of anything and everyone must be paradox, infinitude, and mystery.

At best, this sense of life’s complexity can evoke humility and awe: here we are in a swirling midst of diversity and difference, worlds of possibility never to be mastered or controlled but always explored and experienced with open minds and hearts.

On the other hand, “it’s complicated” can be a total cop-out. We can use complexity to justify inaction or lack of commitment. It can seem like a good excuse to play small or not play at all. It can lead us into moral relativism, the inability to differentiate opinions from facts, and a toxic both-sides-ism that tends to favor the powerful, unscrupulous, and intolerant.

In the face of too much complexity, too many complications, we might be tempted to give up. Surrendering not with joyful abandon to the beautiful wonder of It All, but rather throwing in the fucking towel because we simply can’t handle any more.

Which brings me to both sides of simplicity. Simple can mean clear, straightforward, fundamental, and elegant. Or it can mean stupid.

I crave simplicity as a clarity of purpose — declaring myself, and knowing what’s mine to do.  But fullness of being means I can’t dumb myself down.  And wholehearted participation means I can’t dumb-down the world.   

I want to let it be complicated but not so overwhelming that I’m paralyzed. I want it to be simple, but not ignorant or avoidant or incomplete.

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Dr. King certainly experienced complexity.  He was well aware of the long, twisting march of justice.  He understood the inextricability of racial and economic issues, of every issue intersecting.  AND — the vision he offered and the course he charted was elegant in its simplicity:  I have a dream…

Dr. King managed to hold both a broad view of history and keep a precise eye on his moment in it. The complexity of the Totality and the simplicity of the next right step.

Right now, we are being called to our own clarity: who we choose to be, what we value, what we are willing to stand for. And to recognize at the same time that with every choice and every declaration, we venture ever more deeply into a world of variety and complexity, confusion and chaos.

The trick is — somehow — to be open to new information and different perspectives while maintaining the courage of our own convictions. To know what we need to know but not falling into the trap of thinking we know everything. Either way, every which way, putting one foot in front of the other. When we’re standing before nonsensical stairways like an Escher drawing, and when we’re at the threshold of our own front door. Here we go.

I can’t wait to be with you this Sunday, January 19, 10:00am. With the divine Patty Stephens. XO, Drew

©2025 Drew Groves