Where Action is Needed, Merely Thinking About it is Inadequate

Bonhoeffer’s cell at Tegel prison, a 7′ x 10′ room where he spent 18 months.

“We have learned a bit too late in the day that action springs not from thought but from a readiness for responsibility.”

–Dietrich Bonhoeffer,  Letters and Papers from Prison

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Every night for a week I have sat in a darkened room and watched dramatized events from the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in our theatre company‘s production of The Beams are Creaking. For the past two months I’ve been judging each inflection, movement, gesture, costume piece, prop, stick of furniture, lighting and sound cue. I have heard the words but I have not had leisure to really listen and contemplate.

But tonight, relaxing into our second public performance, I had more brain room to soak in the theatrical experience of watching–through the eyes of one family–the disintegration of the country they love, and the radical steps they ultimately take to try to save it.

The many, many, many things the Obama Administration “just didn’t know”…

This is gonna take a second to illustrate my point, so please bear with me, okay?

Pretend for a moment that you’re a CEO of a major corporation. You have all sorts of assistants, VPs and lieutenants whose sole job is to keep you informed. Also, since it’s your responsibility (not to mention how you make money), you spend a great deal of time pouring over numbers, charts, spreadsheets, etc…

And most importantly, you talk with your folks.