I posted last month about my love of the song "Hell You Talmbout" and its refrain of "say his/her name!" In order to prevent tragedies, victims cannot go nameless. Saying names and sharing narratives turns statistics into stories, and that is how we reach hearts.
But there is another kind of name that has been on my mind today. On Sunday for my brother's birthday I will run the Tunnel to Tower 5k. I was explaining to a colleague that it is in honor of a firefighter who lost his life while going above and beyond on 9/11. She asked what his name was and I had no idea. It was a good reminder of how much easier it can be to know a name for who and what society considers to be dangerous than to name those who stand up for what is beautiful and true. Stephen Siller is the hero in whose honor I run on Sunday. In the future I will try to be more intentional about spreading the light of those who act from a place of love and make the world a better place.
Yesterday Pope Francis held up the models of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day, and Thomas Merton as such examples. True to form, he held up positive models rather than focusing on what not to do. May their strength and peace be a model for us all.
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