March 31 is the anniversary of the birth of César Chávez (1927-1993). Alongside his wife Helen and many others, in the 1960s he organized a successful grape strike and co-founded United Farm Workers.
I was delighted to be reminded of this holiday, which is celebrated in California and several other states. Because of our troubling times, I have become interested in truly realizing (making real) the “three types of love” that the life of César Chávez seems to exemplify.
Chávez’ philosophy and his nonviolent confrontation tactics were strongly influenced by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., who differentiated “agape” from other forms of love, such as “eros” (romantic love) and “philia” (friendship). MLK said,
“Agape is understanding, creative, redemptive good will for all men. Biblical theologians would say it is the love of God working in the minds of men. … And when you come to love on this level you begin to love men not because they are likeable, not because they do things that attract us, but because God loves them and here we love the person who does the evil deed while hating the deed that the person does.”
King’s words remind me of this organizing advice, and it seems we’ve been conditioned by “divide and conquer” tactics to do the opposite: “Be tough on the problem, and easy on the people.” This advice is not only about how to treat those in opposition, but also those in alignment, who may be so wounded, flawed, limited, autocratic, and altogether so difficult that even though we want a great big movement for a better world, we’re tempted to throw them out of this movement!
So, what do we do? César Chávez’ philosophy and actions were heavily influenced by his faith, and he embodied agape love when he said, “There’s no turning back… we will win. We are winning because ours is a revolution of mind and heart.”
Follow your good heart.