Saving Grace

You don't have to be particularly observant to see that there are a lot of problems in our world. Every day people mistreat others, because they belong to a different group, or maybe just to steal their watch. There are wars that seem to have no hope of ever ending, and sometimes brutal violence against innocent people. All the while, there are environmental problems that nobody seems to be doing enough to stop, and the rich get richer as the poor get poorer. You could say that it looks like we're going to hell in a handbasket.

Some people think that religion is responsible for most of the problems in the world today. I suspect that if we tried to outlaw religion, we wouldn't actually solve many of the problems, and we might even create new ones. However, there is no denying that religion is behind many of the horrible deeds that happen in this day and age. It is also behind many of our idioms.

When someone has numerous character defects, they may be judged harshly and find themselves with enemies. That is not always the case, though. Many people--well, all people--have character flaws, but they also have good traits. The good part of someone's character that makes them likeable, in spite of their defects, is called their saving grace. A saving grace may be humility or honesty about their past misdeeds. It might also be a good sense of humour or a way with words. A person with a quick wit and a sharp sense of humour can get away with murder. That is, they can say a lot more than someone who is less eloquent.

In spite of all the problems that I listed before, I think the world also has many saving graces. Most of these saving graces are small actions, or individual people working to make a better world. There are people who are willing to do whatever it takes--to move heaven and earth--to bring things like justice and security closer to reality. I find their stories to be inspiring. There are beautiful things all over the world: small miracles like the procession of clouds across the sky, or the never-ending story of death and rebirth that is told by the changing seasons.

There isn't much around that is totally black and white. Most systems and people still have their saving graces. If you happen to notice one, perhaps this idiom will come in handy to describe it.