Moral Imagination

A week ago marked 50 years since “Bloody Sunday,” an incident that was definitive in the fight for minorities’ right to vote in the USA. On that historic day, March 7, 1965, around 600 people marched from the town of Selma to the city of Montgomery, the capital of the state of Alabama, when, on top of a bridge, they were brutally dispersed by police force. What occurred on that epic afternoon is the central theme of the recently released movie, “Selma.”

As memorable as what happened in Alabama half a century ago was the commemoration last Saturday led by the first black president this country has had. The consensus is that from the same bridge on which the heroes of the Civil Rights movement spilled their blood, President Barack Obama gave the best speech of his entire presidency: a piece of masterful oratory that strings the past together with the present and vindicates the progress achieved, while offering a vision of the future that, without ignoring the challenges, comforts and inspires.

Obama knows very well that one cannot govern by mere oratory, but among the most important functions of a president is that of lending coherence to public speaking, being the narrator-in-chief, as they say here, and telling the citizens a story that unites them and gives them a sense of purpose and, above all, optimism.

Inevitably, Obama’s speech made me think about Colombia, and a concept in particular left me pondering over and over: the idea that heroes are not necessarily exceptional, but are individuals who have what Obama describes as “moral imagination,” or to recognize that change depends on our own actions and attitudes. It seems obvious, but it is important to articulate the concept in words because, without a dose of moral imagination, North Americans of color would still be waiting for the opportunity to define their future in the ballot boxes.

I believe that the current situation that we are living in Colombia, the possibility of signing a peace agreement after half a century of war, is as crucial as the definitive moments through which U.S. democracy has gone, including the Selma march. It will not be just a step further on the path of progress or a marginal improvement from what we now have, but a dramatic leap toward the type of country we can and deserve to be. However, sometimes I wonder if we are providing enough room for our moral imagination to grow and strengthen because we are too busy feeding pessimism and giving microphones and credibility to those who insist that we must continue tied to a past that only promises more unhappiness.

And here is the second concept that impacted me during Obama’s speech on Saturday: the trap of believing that there has not been progress and that, despite all the evidence of what has changed, nothing has actually changed. Once again, here, there are prophets of disaster [pessimists] who want to convince us that violence in Colombia is endemic, that our differences are insurmountable, that our sins are unforgivable. Those who insist on denying what progress we have made in recent decades take the capacity to change things away from us while at the same time ridding us of the responsibility of building a better society. It is a sad recipe for a country that has everything to be successful and a wrong lesson for the generations that come after us.

To those who have the opportunity, I recommend that you take a look at Obama’s words so that they comfort you to understand that, just like people, countries stumble, and some day, they also rise up.