A thought on joy in righteousness: I haven’t read anything by Benjamin Lay, and have no idea how he felt about his actions. But during my more intensely Quaker stage I read the writings of John Woolman, another weirdo vegetarian Quaker who was ardently abolitionist before it was cool. I went in thinking, “It’s one thing for someone who kind of enjoys being disruptive, but I’m not like that, I find it really embarrassing and uncomfortable.” But in his diary he’s clear that he also found it embarrassing and uncomfortable, would have liked to lead a more normal life, and pushed through because of his convictions.
Thanks for this Julia! Nothing but respect for weirdo vegetarian quakers. Not what you’re implying here but I definitely want to emphasise that I don’t think of activists like Lay as enjoying their disruption by default. Even if they get this ‘joy in righteousness’ it’d be odd if they felt that way all the time.
A thought on joy in righteousness:
I haven’t read anything by Benjamin Lay, and have no idea how he felt about his actions. But during my more intensely Quaker stage I read the writings of John Woolman, another weirdo vegetarian Quaker who was ardently abolitionist before it was cool. I went in thinking, “It’s one thing for someone who kind of enjoys being disruptive, but I’m not like that, I find it really embarrassing and uncomfortable.” But in his diary he’s clear that he also found it embarrassing and uncomfortable, would have liked to lead a more normal life, and pushed through because of his convictions.
Thanks for this Julia! Nothing but respect for weirdo vegetarian quakers.
Not what you’re implying here but I definitely want to emphasise that I don’t think of activists like Lay as enjoying their disruption by default. Even if they get this ‘joy in righteousness’ it’d be odd if they felt that way all the time.