A project that has consumed my spare moments this fall is preparing for a big math test. It turns out that in this era of high stakes testing for kids, we do the same for teachers so in order to renew a lapsed teaching certificate, I need to pass a test. And though I would love to share commentary on the educational disaster of testing, this particular challenge has been enlightening for me on a couple of levels. Though once a strong student with a Math major in college, Math is a language that I haven’t used for decades and so to even do a first run at this test I have to start from the ground floor relearning. As I practice problems I have discovered a zen in mathematics that is new and precious. I have also rediscovered a once familiar nemesis: ssm’s (silly stupid mistakes).
Math teachers are notorious for taking credit from students who understand the theory but offer up mistaken solutions based on ssm’s. While my theologian’s heart is with the students on this rant, I have a memory as a young teacher that bears witness to the relevancy of accuracy. I was sharing a problem on a giant whiteboard and was well into it, grateful that the class seemed to be engaged and watching with great interest. Minutes clicked by as I worked, nearly an hour into it I was finally winding into the homestretch for the great finale. It was a beautiful proof drawn before us, except that it didn’t work. As I reached for the final piece, it was wrong. I stared at the board in disbelief and then I heard a giggle from behind me. 
As I turned to the class, I discovered they were all grinning. They had noticed, way back in one of the first movements, an ssm. One insignificant ssm and the whole proof is rendered… gibberish.
No matter how much brilliance we pile on top of a faulty foundation, the fissures remain. And such fissures threaten the entire structure.
Nobody wants to return to square one and start over again. No one relishes the pain of digging down to the place of the fault to offer renewed strength. But without a solid foundation, our subsequent labors are in vain.
This simple truth has real world significance not only when designing bridges 
and mechanical wonders, but also in human relations and even politics. As I read this week’s news about the elections in Israel (out with the moderates, in with the extremists) and the UN’s recognition of a Palestinian state (to the dismay of the US and Israel), I couldn’t help but wonder at the myriad of fissures which lie beneath the tragedy facing the inhabitants of a tiny landlocked region half a world away. Make no mistake, the United States is a big player in this tragedy. While we decry our own budget woes and threaten to slash Social Security and Medicare, we are sending $8.5 million dollars every day to the Israeli army*. But no amount of money is making peace on a foundation of colonialism that denies the basic civil and human rights of local residents. The colonial assumptions that foreign powers should dictate the fate of local communities is no small or silly mistake, and the history which may seem ancient to our children is as real as the morning sun for those who must eat the bitter fruit.
Cleansing the wound of injustice means removing the well intentioned but foreign voices and allowing the muffled voices of those most vulnerable to be heard. Only at this depth can true peace find a firm foundation. Attempts to enforce peace on anything else will simply be new shows of force with the trampled bodies of innocents adding yet another layer to the faulty footing.
Sometimes the most loving act is the difficult one of truth telling. As I remember the coy smiles of a class of freshman Algebra students, having caught their teacher at the end of class with a whiteboard filled with gibberish, I am mindful both of my vulnerability in having made a mistake and also my need of their candor to point it out.
Life’s important lessons find us wherever we may hide. For today, I see the value of backing up to a place where the arithmatic is accurate and the footing is sound. From this place, I see the value of learning to speak with gentleness and compassion, yes, but also with relevant truth and appropriate humility. Ssm’s which are neither silly nor stupid have no place in a world where children’s lives hang in the balance.
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*This is an unbelievable number but true. In 2012, the US sends $3100 million every year to the Israeli army. Perhaps even more surprising is that this number bears witness that total US aid to Israel has in fact *reduced* significantly from former levels. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf