Bending the Arc – A Call to Moral Justice

The trailer below for the film Bending the Arc is a testament to what is possible. It is a testament to Paul Farmer and his best friends who changed the world in their twenties. It is a testament to the leadership model of accompaniment, journeying with others in partnership to a better place. And it leads us to Partners in Health, an organization dedicated to carrying on the work. Each of these spotlights offers inspiration and lessons crucial to grappling with our current challenges in rural and remote perinatal health. We will explore them in future posts. For now, the hope is that a new generation will feel as empowered today to get involved in solving access to healthcare, as this small group of young people who decided they needed to take action forty years ago.

Watch the entire film, Bending the Arc, here.

Martin Luther King said in 1968:

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

An early abolitionist minister, Theodore Parker, wrote in 1853:

“I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one… But from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.”

That line is not passive optimism. It does not mean history automatically improves. Parker and King both lived through brutal injustice. Neither believed the universe bends by itself. The bending comes from human action—discipline, sacrifice, moral courage, and often suffering.

Both voiced the sentiment while violence, backlash, and political resistance were intense. He wasn’t naïve. He was arguing that sustained moral pressure eventually prevails—if people refuse to quit.

Justice is not inevitable.
It is earned.
And it often takes longer than anyone wants.

As recounted by many, the young people who took the actions documented in this film, “bent the arc” faster.