See It. Say It. Sort It.

I’ve had this title ready to go since our trip to England a month ago. This pithy mantra is spoken over and over again on the subway train (with one difference, to be noted), the British equivalent of “If you see something, say something.” These kind of short phrases are the kinds of proverbs, maxims, aphorisms, that are the legacy of oral cultures, leaning on the way the brain is designed to remember pithy, rhythmic, alliterative and musical information and then expand it from there into a living, breathing guide that helps shape our conscious life. 

 

This one works for me on so many levels. On the political level, it means our job is to truly see what is going on and that means going to multiple sources to hear diverse accounts. Read books, watch documentaries, go to lectures, listen to songs, talk to people. In my present moment of this Jazz Course, we went to the Whitney Plantation Tour, one of the few places in America where the story is told by black people telling the truth of what happened in these places and why. 

 

Then say it. Once you know the stories that no one ever told you and the people in power who benefit from them don’t want you to know, speak out about it with others who don’t yet know them. Share them, let your voice be heard when you see them at play in the present moment. 

 

And at the same time, sort it. Notice how Fox News benefits from spinning the story in their slanted way or how they and the people they represent try to keep you from hearing the story at all— the current epidemic of book-banning, for example. 

 

The same process is true on the personal emotional level. Try to see what’s going on inside of you, try to say it by giving it a name and now you’re better prepared to sort it. Where does that voice come from that turns you in certain directions in each and every life choice? Was it drummed into you by your family/ school/ church/ culture/ mass media and accepted without question, regardless of its toxic ideas and effects? If so, can you sort it and give weight to other voices that offer love, acceptance, kindness, healing? When you’re in conflict with people you care about, can you both do the work of sorting through all the defenses and justifications and getting closer to the root of what’s really going on? 

 

After hearing this over and over again on the London train, I saw it printed on and was surprised to see that the last word is actually “sorted.” Meaning if you see something edgy going on, say something to a police officer and their job is to sort it. They’re trying to assure you that if you share the problem with them, it will be sorted. 

 

In some cases, that might be the wise path to take but given the history of police in the United States, not necessarily. And in the larger picture, I much prefer my version, not giving over your power and assume someone else with sort it. We—each of us both alone and together—have to do the work. 

Today I’ll ask the students to discuss what they saw, what they want to say about it and who they will eventually say it to and how they will help their students and fellow citizens sort it.

 

See it. Say it Sort it. Keep these words close by.