It’s the hottest fires that make the hardest steel

Detroit took center stage Sunday, in a two-minute commercial for the Chrysler 200 that sought to revitalize the city’s image.  Eminem was a choirboy for once, and my beloved city was (astonishingly) associated with luxury, of all things.

This is a rallying call, if we can listen to it.

Forget the city’s image, for a moment.  This is about pride, not image.  If you are a Detroiter, it is hard to be proud of the city as it is right now.  What shall I be proud of?  Shall I be proud of thousands of abandoned and collapsing buildings?   Shall I be proud of the tattered clothing of the man who wants money for a fix?  Shall I be proud of high school stairwells that even teachers are afraid to walk through?

No.  To take pride in the present is not hope — it is obstinacy.  And yet, I am proud to be a Detroiter.

What gives me that pride?  Not the way things are, but the way WE are in the midst of things.  I am proud of the hope that Detroiters carry with them when they work and pray.  I am proud that we stay in the city — not because it is inspiring or safe or advantageous — but because it is home.  I am proud of the tenacity of the many Detroiters who may not have everything America offers, but who at least offer America everything they have.

The hottest fires, indeed.

The Lord works in strange ways, and none more strange than the way that he has made Marshall Mathers a symbol of Detroit’s hope.  I expect that Eminem will continue to lose his way, and my city shall do the same.  But we may lose our way less and less, and who knows how strong we shall be when the fires have subsided?

“It is better to suffer evil than to commit evil.”  For suffering produces hope, and (I have it on good authority) hope does not disappoint.

~ by Daniel on February 8, 2011.