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The Struggle of the Underdog

Sunday Service - March 15, 10:00am
Rev. Julie Stoneberg

Music: The Occasional Singers  

There’s an unspoken awareness that ‘underdogs’ want neither to be winners nor powerful.  What does this mean for UUs, the underdogs of religious liberalism?   

Opening Words

To Light
Linda Hogan
 
At the spring
we hear the great seas traveling
underground,
giving themselves up
with tongue of water
that sing the earth open.
 
They have journeyed through the graveyards
of our loved ones,
turning in their grave
to carry the stories of life to air.
 
Even the trees with their rings
have kept track
of the crimes that live within
and against us.
 
We remember it all.
We remember, though we are just skeletons
whose organs and flesh
hold us in.

We have stories
as old as the great seas
breaking through the chest,
flying out the mouth,
noisy tongues that once were silenced,
all the oceans we contain
coming to light.
 
 

Story for All Ages

The Dragon Takes a Wife
Walter Dean Myers
 

Reading

David and Goliath
Here is a classic underdog story, the story of David and Goliath. And I give you fair warning: the following reading contains violence and harsh language. 
The Philistine army had gathered for war against Israel. The two armies faced each other, camped for battle on opposite sides of a steep valley. A Philistine giant measuring over nine feet tall and wearing full armour came out each day for forty days, mocking and challenging the Israelites to fight. His name was Goliath. Saul, the king of Israel, and the whole army were terrified of Goliath.
One day David, the youngest son of Jesse, was sent to the battle lines by his father to bring back news of his brothers. David was probably just a young teenager at the time. While there, David heard Goliath shouting his daily defiance and he saw the great fear stirred within the men of Israel. David responded, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of God?"
So David volunteered to fight Goliath. It took some persuasion, but King Saul finally agreed to let David fight against the giant. Dressed in his simple tunic, carrying his shepherd's staff, slingshot and a pouch full of stones, David approached Goliath. The giant cursed at him, hurling threats and insults.
David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied ... Today I will give the carcasses of the philistine army to the birds of the air ... And the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel ... It is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands."
As Goliath moved in for the kill, David reached into his bag and slung one of his stones at Goliath's head. Finding a hole in the armour, the stone sank into the giant's forehead and he fell face down on the ground. David then took Goliath's sword, killed him and then cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.
 

Message

A week ago yesterday the religious exploration committee met to do some planning and visioning. We began with an icebreaker that required each of us to list three things...two true and one false...about ourselves. Everyone else had to choose which one was the lie.
My untruth was that I had won a State Fair blue ribbon in quilting. I thought that was reasonably believable...don’t you? Yet, almost all of them chose it as the lie. In the conversation, I learned that in Canada the top ribbons are red, and the second place ribbons are blue (which come to think of it, would seem to make my lie even more believable!) Anyway, I tell you all this only to get to here: one person told of visiting someone in the states who had a large wall display of ribbons, and as they were all blue, she recalled thinking, “Oh, poor them...too bad!” 
Second place. Second fiddle. The underdog. Too bad...
 
I first remember thinking about the psychology of the underdog at a budget meeting for a theatre company in Minneapolis. It is an incredibly creative, cutting-edge, social justice-focused company, located in an old porn theatre in a pretty rough neighbourhood. Predictably, the annual budget is much smaller than the vast energy and vision of the artists. Anyway, someone at the meeting made a comment about the company having an ethic of poverty that sabotaged any efforts to do successful fundraising. Somehow it was seen as better, more righteous to be poor and struggling.   I have often reflected on this conversation...do we relish being the underdogs? 
 
Remember the Underdog cartoons? He was a shameless take-off on Superman. Shoeshine Boy would hear a cry for help, usually from journalist Sweet Polly Purebread, do a quick change in a phone booth, and explode out into the world to fight the criminals. The Mighty Mouse story was very similar...except that Mighty Mouse wasn’t an alter ego...that mouse was perpetually caped and ready to go.   And I suppose therein lies the greater appeal of Underdog...he could be any one of us...any non-descript, nameless, unnoticed person...just doing an ordinary job...but then can transform into a saviour, a fearless crusader. 
 
Here are their theme songs...First Mighty Mouse... and now a bit of Underdog’s...
 
I think there are a lot of ways in which we, that is Unitarian Universalists, would like to think of ourselves as super heroes. Parts of these theme songs could be our own... when criminals in the world appear, a cry goes up, and we aspire to show up and right these wrongs, with lightning speed and roar of thunder...or something like that. There's no need to fear! Underdog is here! 
Yet even in his courageous efforts, this particular Underdog remains the under-hero. Never quite getting the girl, never quite doing the rescue without causing collateral damage, never quite overcoming his nerdy personality. Yep. We can certainly identify with him. 
 
It seems to me that “underdog” has two dimensions. First, as a somewhat pejorative labelling, it clearly names who is thought to be the loser or the failure, who is weak and underprivileged, who is at a disadvantage. Apparently the term originated in the shipbuilding industry. When logs were to be sawn, they were placed over a pit on planks of wood called ‘dogs’. The senior sawsman, or overdog, worked on top of the planks. The less fortunate person had to work in the pit, where he would be covered with sawdust; a position called the underdog. 
 
But in addition to this clear naming of the lack of privilege, ‘underdog’ has come to be used as a strategy. Since people love to root for the underdog, being an underdog is a strategy that works for sports teams and politicians, as well as in personal relationships. A friend of mine who teaches high school has told me that she notices this in her students...a cloying use of inadequacy or powerlessness in order to get attention. To gain advantage or sympathy, we sometimes intentionally associate ourselves with under-privilege or misfortune. 
 
I need to explain this with great care, and I’ll use this example. When there is a tragedy or disaster, people are affected near and far. There are those who have been hit directly, and those who are at arms-length or further, but who are touched deeply by some resonance with their own pain and experience. Both the direct and indirect hits are real felt experience. Then, there are also those who choose to enter that resonating place in order to get care and attention, and even that, on some level, indicates a real emotional need.   So as I proceed with this exploration, know that there are understandable reasons to ‘do’ underdog energy.   I just want to explore why we choose it, and to question if it is always a good choice. And I do this with our faith community in mind, and not to focus on, or to judge, individual choices. 
 
On some scales, in the eyes of some, we, as Unitarian Universalists, might be seen as an underdog faith. We have left the mainstream, we are not well-known, we have difficult articulating our beliefs, and our numbers are small. Where other traditions choose to call upon a saviour, who like Mighty Mouse swoops in to save the day, we have a greater affinity for Underdog, who is an archetype for the commoner who comes from behind to fight for justice. For us, spirit, even the spirit of the underdog, trumps muscle. 
 
In preparation for today, I watched the movie “Glory Road” which is the story of the team that is reputed to have changed college basketball. Coach Don Haskins, of tiny Texas Western University, bucks convention by simply starting the best players he can find: history’s first all-African-American line-up. The team is without question the underdog...in experience, in repute, and definitely in social-acceptability. But they sweep their first season and become the national champions, sending shock waves through the sports world and the country. They were truly the underdog, and part of the reason they won, is that no one, including their opponents, gave them any chance of winning.   It’s a compelling story that deeply touches this UU heart.
 
Think of other ways in which this strategy is used. Apple, with the Mac computer, and Volkswagen, with the Bug, have both turned their underdog status to their advantage in their advertising. Politicians, and interestingly enough both Obama and McCain in the last presidential campaign in the US, spin a position of weakness to garner support and sympathy. Wars are begun in the name of the underdog who must fight against the more powerful and oppressive. We tend to rally around the underdog to join in the struggle, in a collective disdain for those who have the power.
 
You see, at least in most competitive situations, there are more losers than winners. Second place, whether it’s red or blue, is not seen as a win. By definition then, the vast majority of us are underdogs. This is why there is so much appeal in an underdog story, and why the hero characters in many children stories are nerdy and quiet. We understand that because most of us are in the same boat. We are not #1. We are not the most popular. We want stories, over and over again, which give us hope and tell us that someday, maybe, we might just win. 
 
Let me step back for a moment and try to name the “we” that I’m talking about, (and also to give you permission to count yourself out of this ‘we’ if that’s appropriate for you.) There is a top dog and an underdog in each of us, and we play out these two natures at different times and in different settings.   But there are also those people and institutions and organizations that tend to plug into the top dog role, and who pursue the upper position quite vigorously. That is not the ‘we’ I’m talking about. The ‘we’ I’m talking about are those who identify as the commoner or the ‘everyman’. The ‘we’ I’m talking about are those of us who root for the underdog and who perpetually see ourselves in the ‘lower’ position. For the most part, I think that Unitarian Universalism assumes this role.  
 
And there’s pride in this role. It implies an ability to get back on the horse, or as my mother used to say, “stick-to-it-iveness”. It takes hopeful courage to be an underdog, and requires strength of both attitude and purpose. 
 
A great benefit of underdog-ness is that it joins us, as our Hispanic commadres would say, en la lucha...in the struggle. There is a great sense of community in joining with others who share our position and our battles. In fact, it rather becomes our identity, to be part of the struggling masses. And from that place, we begin to see winners as our opponents and arch enemies....and being in the winning position starts to be seen as a place we would never want to be. 
 
But have we trapped ourselves? Have we type-cast ourselves as the eternal underdog? 
Let me come back to that. First I need to step back again and look at the assumptions in what I’ve been saying. So far, I’ve been talking about a dualistic worldview in which there are winners and there are losers. In Yiddish, there are schlemiels and there are schlimazels. The definition of a schlemiel is one who spills, and a schlimazel, on the other hand, is the one who is spilled upon. There is the one who wreaks havoc, and the one upon whom havoc is wreaked. Either, or. We win, or we lose.
 
While I’m sure live this kind of dualism on a daily basis, it is not my preferred worldview or theology. I believe that David’s people and Goliath’s people can work out a peaceable kingdom, or as William Coffin said, that we can work toward a justice strategy rather than a war strategy. I do not believe that bigger is better, or that smaller is better, nor do I believe that the stronger will win and the weaker will lose. If I am to work toward living my beliefs, I have to stop acting as if the winner/loser duality is the way the world works.
 
So what about for us, this faith community? Have we indeed type-cast ourselves as underdogs, and if so, how is this affecting our ability to be present and be effective? Well, if you haven’t already surmised this, let me say plainly that from my perspective, we too readily assume the underdog position, and I do believe that this adversely affects our work in the world.
 
You see, the underdog position is the safest, and the least demanding, position to be in. There is no where to fall, no lower place to sink into. If we lose, no one is surprised, and if, wonder of wonders, we ever were to win, we would be heroes. As underdogs, we can allow ourselves to buy into what Parker Palmer calls corrosive realism, where our dreams seem so unreachable that we accept losing as the only likely reality. As underdogs, we can lose our will to try, at least in any way that rightly respects our shared ambitions and visions. 
 
Let me propose that we do our best to take ourselves off the winner-loser scale. Let me propose that we resist categorizing ourselves and others and groups and abilities as winners or losers. After all, our Universalism tells us that all are saved...in other words, winning or losing does not matter in the long run. Focusing myopically on winning is sure to bring only frustration and unhappiness. So, let’s just go about our work, which is to stand with, advocate for, help those who the system has made losers...the poor, the hungry, the needy, the disenfranchised, the oppressed. Let’s help them, and ourselves, to experience what we all deserve...a pervasive condition of respect, and freedom, and opportunity.   
 
Parker Palmer tells this story:
I remember talking with a friend who has worked for many years at the Catholic Worker, a ministry to the poor in New York City. Daily she tries to respond to waves of human misery that are as ceaseless as surf in that community. Out of my deep not-knowing I asked her how she could keep doing a work that never showed any results, a work in which the problems keep getting worse instead of better. I will never forget her enigmatic answer: "The thing you don’t understand…is that just because something is impossible doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it!"
You see, if our goal is to win, and if that usually seems impossible, we’re screwed. We’re done in before we’ve even begun to fight. But if winning is not the goal, but rather, if doing our best, doing what we can, staying in the fray, is the goal, then we’re already successful in our efforts.
I love the quote that Paula referred to earlier...if you ever want to find it again, it’s #463 in our hymnal. Adrienne Rich has said,
My heart is moved by all I cannot save; so much has been destroyed. I have to cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world.
We don’t need Mighty Mouse, and we don’t need extraordinary powers. We don’t need a lycra-spandex suit with a bit UU emblazoned on the chest. We don’t need x-ray vision or atomic breath or even a great calculating brain to respond to injustice and to work to right the wrongs of the world. There is no inherent worthiness in being the underdog. In fact, seeing ourselves as the underdog only undermines our efforts. 
What we need is fierceness and determination, and comrades who offer their support. What we need is a world in which there are no winners and no losers, but only companions with whom we coexist in freedom and in love. 
There is no need to fear, for we are here together.
Amen.
 
 

Closing Words

We hear the great seas traveling underground... and the sound is the sound of our hearts’ desires, the sound of our longing to make a difference, the sound of all our bottled up inferiority and fear.  
But I say to you, in that sound, in that deep longing, is contained all the same possibility that superheroes find in capes and phone booths. We contain oceans of light and heartbooks full of song. 
There is indeed no need to fear, for we are here, and we are here together.
So may it ever be. Amen.