The Reverend Brian E. Konkol, Ph.D., dean of Hendricks Chapel, wrote an op-ed for Syracuse.com titled “2020 was broken and beautiful. 2021 needs grace and grit.” The Rev. Konkol leads religious and spiritual life both at the University and across its extended community.
Konkol writes that crisis often reveals character by showing how society handles change and difficulty. After a year of ongoing crisis, he says it is necessary to recognize that “our collective character is both broken and beautiful.” By embracing such a paradox, that society can be both fully broken and fully beautiful, the Rev. Konkol believes we can best make sense of the world.
In the piece, Konkol outlines three paradoxes that society faces: kind and cruel, united and divided, and progressing and regressing. Understanding these paradoxes serves to better understand how we can collectively move into a new year with grace and grit.
Grace and grit, Konkol argues, are essential in improving while moving into this new year. “When we practice both grace and grit, we can create and conserve safe spaces and brave spaces that embody both hospitality and honesty, and in response to what has been revealed about our character, through both comfort and challenge we can strive to be more fully redeemed together,” writes Konkol.
