Hands

In a Peanuts comic strip, Charlie Brown is eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He looks admiringly at his hands and says:

Hands are fascinating things. I like my hands…. I think I have nice hands. My hands seem to have a lot of character. These are hands that may someday accomplish great things. These are hands that may someday do marvelous works. They may build mighty bridges or heal the sick, or hit home runs, or write soul-stirring novels. These are hands that may someday change the course of destiny!

Lucy looks down at Charlie’s hands and says: “They’ve got jelly on them!”

Lucy’s comment, albeit insensitive, is right on target. Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.

Hence, we start by recognizing that our own hands are covered with jelly. And they always will be. But they are all we have. They are who we are. Messy to be sure, we keep using our hands in acts of justice and kindness, that life might be less evil.

by Tom Owen-Towle, minister emeritus, First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego, California. TO READ MORE

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