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Saturday, June 26, 2004
Saturday, June 26, 2004
The only way you can ever be prevented from creating change is when you deny your truths - when you change the real you to fit the false you that makes society more comfortable. And the greatest danger lies at the most subtle level of this truth, and that is when you change the real you to fit the mold with which the other change-makers feel most comfortable. This is why so many people with pacifism in their hearts support the democratic ticket with a $400 billion military budget. I call myself a liberal when it doesn't reflect the totality of my truth, yet I want desperately to fit in.
Remember that Martin Luther King's closest advisors did not want him to speak out about the war in Viet Nam because it would offend those from whom he needed support for his civil rights initiatives. But he said that he had fought too long against segregation between the races to begin segregating his moral concerns. This is what made him different from all the rest. He sought truth more than progress, and out of that came more progress than any of his advisors had ever or will ever achieve.
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Thursday, June 24, 2004
Friday, June 25, 2004
One does not need a great idea to create great change in this world. One does not need to be affiliated with a prestigious organization. One does not need to invent the next moveon.org or the next AIDSRide In fact, it may well be that we have put too much stock in finding the right strategies for change and that it comes at the expense of the recognition of the strength of the human person. It is the strength of my person, of your person, of one's person that has always and will always be the key to social transformation. Sometimes that may lead to the creation of organization, but we must never assign credit to the organization at the expense of credit to the strength of one's person.
Martin Luther King used nothing but the strength of his person to create a movement. He didn't have a clever name or slogan. He had no internet. He had no database. He had no media fund. Gandhi the same. Lech Walesa. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Caesar Chavez. Helen Keller. They didn't have websites. Yet look how much more they moved the world than we seem able with all our technology. They immersed themselves deep in their moral convictions and they spoke the truth and they refused to speak anything other than the truth and they refused to relent. They refused to deny the strength of their person. They refused to pretend that it was not there. They refused to minimize it or abandon it.
Remember the strength of your person. For it is that and that alone that attracts others to your cause. It is your conviction and your fire and your heat that has the power to transform. What is it that I care about? What is it that I can begin to do about it? Who can I talk to? How can I use my vocal chords? These are the important questions. What did I remain silent about today that I will not be silent about tomorrow? What paper can I write to? What person can I register to vote? And what person can I ask that person to register to vote?
There is no limit to what this can do if we remain true to it. As sure as butterflies come from catepillars, great social movements, and meaningful social change, even at the smallest level, comes from the strength of your person. You do not need to be brilliant to create change. You need only be you.
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Thursday, June 24, 2004
This has for years been about the most profound thing I have ever heard anyone say.
"If blood be shed, let it be our blood. Cultivate the quiet courage of dying without killing. For man lives freely only by his readiness to die, if need be, at the hands of his brother, never by killing him." - Mahatma Gandhi
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Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
These beheadings. They are as troubling for their metaphoric significance as they are for their sheer physical brutality. We are losing our heads. All of humanity. An eye for an eye has taken over and we are barreling toward mass blindness. Somewhere in this wilderness must come humble apology, forgiveness, and understanding. Some great courage must be mustered to admit that we have all failed at some level, that we don't want to destroy our world, and that we are willing to seek and find our common humanity. This is not easy. But surely we can muster the intelligence to realize that no one is 100% right or 100% wrong in all of this - that somewhere there must be a recognition of shared responsibility. From the time the first human being picked up a weapon to harm another, from the time of our oldest ancestor, every human being who has ever lived has contributed to this culture of violence and militarism. These things are not occurring in a vacuum. They are occurring at the tail end of millennia of violence - at the tail end of an entire way of life that humanity has embraced as necessary for survival. Yet if we do not let go of it, the way we have chosen to ensure our survival may be the way that ensures only our destruction. In this new age, the true path to survival may only be accessible by a willingness to sacrifice our very survival in the name of understanding. We should stay close now to the story of Abraham. Only when he showed God a willingness to sacrifice his son for the glory of God did God surrender his son back to him. Let us use our heads and our hearts here. The way to victory is through surrender.
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Monday, June 21, 2004
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
It seems I never stop writing about the need to end hunger or the need to end the global AIDS epidemic. Until we have, I never will.
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Monday, June 21, 2004
Today a man flew a private rocket into space. I had the privilege of watching it launch over the desert of Mojave, California. They say it would have cost the government hundreds of millions of dollars to do what this small group of aerospace engineers did for $25 million. One is reminded of Margaret Meade's famous quotation - "Never doubt the ability of a small group of dedicated citizens to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has."
That quote is used a lot without connection to stimulate people to some great action. It has a different effect altogether on the reader when its meaning is corroborated by a great action that some brave people have already taken. Congratulations to the people of Scaled Composites and the X PRIZE that made this impossibility real.
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Sunday, June 20, 2004
Sunday, June 20, 2004
Happy Father's Day Everyone.
"I may not be able to say all I think, but I am not going to say anything I do not think." - Eugene V. Debs
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