The Spirituality of Solidarity

My 16-year old son is now bald.  He shaved his head this week.  Why?  He is not in a swim team, or in a gang, or too hot.  He did it as an act of loving solidarity with a relative who just lost her hair due to chemotherapy.  I asked him, are you doing this as some sort of sacrifice for God? An offering? Are you thinking that if you do this for her God may take pity and help?  No.  He is doing this because he loves her and he shares in her pain.  This is an act of solidarity.  It is a way for her to know that she is not alone, she belongs.

What is solidarity?  It is interesting that the word comes from the French “solidaire” which means interdependent and from the Latin “solidus” which means solid, whole.  Isn’t this beautiful?  Isn’t this the essence of spirituality?  To live as an interdependent member of the whole of humanity, striving for the betterment of all, and simultaneously been one with God.  This is spiritual solidarity.  Most Western and Eastern mystics talk of feeling a sense that they are one with God, all people, and even nature.  As if they were one big pulsating heart.

Solidarity conjures memories of worker movements, the great Polish political reform, marches for human rights, or the rights of migrant workers, solidarity with the people of Sudan, or the victims of the Tsunami.  These actions speak of us “feeling” for the poor, the sick, the oppressed, the disadvantaged; but these feelings and actions, though political or economical in nature, emanate from a sense that the suffering are one with us.  “Blessed are they…”  We are united and thus we feel and act.  So to act in solidarity toward another person, group, or nation is to recognize and live up to our oneness.  We have no choice but to commit to their wellbeing.

Pope Paul VI used the word extensively as he called the world to correct imbalances between rich and poor nations.  Pope John Paul II used it in Laborem exercens and Solicitudo rei socialis as calls for workers to unite and as a call for all people and all nations to commit to the common good.  He then nailed it in the head when he defined it as virtue, as "a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good . . ." He further explained that this virtue is one of service to the point of self-sacrifice.  As one that "demands a readiness to accept sacrifices for the good of the whole world community."  The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that “Solidarity is an eminently Christian virtue. It practices the sharing of spiritual goods even more than material ones.”

My son gave me a good lesson in the spirituality of solidarity.  Yes, it can and must translate into the strong helping the weak and the wealthy helping the poor, but it must begin with a “because.”  Why are you doing this?  “Because.”  Because we love, because we are connected, because we share in joy and pain, and because we are one body in Christ.

Comments

[Julie D.]

Good for your son! (and a good post too!)

[ukok]

Your son is completely awesome!

What an amazing thing to do for another person as an expression of love.

God Bless.

[~m2~]

i have a particular fondness for bald boys too as mine have shaved their heads (ben, twice) in an effort to raise funds for children's cancer research - St. Baldrix is celebrated in these parts every march. ben's done it twice, and is especially committed since he was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma two years ago (he's fine now).

your son is quite a testimony to love. wonder where he gets it from?

[Lorna]

wow !

[Hector]

Julie, ukok, Penni, and Lorna, thanks for your comments. He is a very loving kid. He wants to study biochemistry in college and do research for cancer cures. Penni, I'm glad your son is doing well now.

[Moneybags]

Wow, your son gave the best gift of friendship he could. That was a very touching story. Please thank him for me for his sympathy.

That's beautiful. Thank you

[Essy]

Just wanted to stop by and wish you a Blessed and Joyous Christmas.

[Tony Miller]

I'm a bald guy. Not for any medical or solidarity reasons, but because God saw fit to take most of my hair from the time I was 18, and I decided "thy will be done" and shaved the rest off.

I never regretted it. My wife likes it much better now, and I don't look like Bozo the clown 3 weeks after every haircut.

Kudos to your son. He may like the look and keep it. :)

[Maggie]

My 19 year old daughter shaved her head because she didn't like the at home dye job her friends gave her, I wish I had had some reason I could have loved about that.

I just kept reminding myself that God loves unconditionally, and praying that it would grow back. Then I started thinking about what if she had lost it because of cancer, and the perspective that gave me made me handle it a bit more chearfully.