The Struggle Continues - A Prelude

Sunday, November 16, 2008

11:19am
The irony has not been lost. In the wake of our recent tryst with history, many profound thinkers have been eager to juxtapose the significance of America electing its first African American President against the passage of California’s Proposition 8 legalizing a ban on gay marriage, and the bellowing demonstrations that have ensued across the country. The query has analyzed polling results, dissected campaign propaganda, and has sprinted to the finish line of laying blame and inflicting salt upon humanity’s gaping wound – our inability to see, validate and appreciate each other…our delusion of individualism…and the cataract which impairs our ability to recognize the interconnectedness of our fate.

This has led me to reflect on the concept of “struggle” – a construct in human experience that seeks to answer perceived wrongs endured and invokes yet another construct … “activism”. It makes me wonder what propels struggle forward toward the advancement of human thought. As I witness throngs of disenfranchised homosexuals and their allies protest in the streets and before the misidentified targets of their rage (the Mormon Church, the ultra-conservative right spurred by their evangelical ideologies, black voters incapacitated by their oppressors religion, et al), I beg the question: Is anger the operative ingredient for social change? Must it be? Moreover, do our interests really lie in social change or are we merely interested in adding yet another egoic layer to the status quo of human experience?

I am mindful of the adage which cautions: “When battling the beast, be careful not to become the beast!”

Barak Obama’s success has been tied to the unique values and skills associated with coalition building and community organizing. He set his sights high, cast his net far and moved intentionally toward changing the conversation in American politics, and in so doing, he shifted the energy surging through this country.

I propose we do the same. It is time for those of us who love justice to up-level our conversation from small-minded and immature discourse to a thoughtful dialogue where the goal is not simply to DO something, but rather to BE something. We must discontinue our addiction to performing within the confines of our limiting roles and self-proclaimed identities and move consciously into the embodiment of our collective purpose.

I am of the mind that when we busy ourselves with BEING present, BEING in conversation, BEING informed, BEING engaged, BEING enlightened, BEING communal, BEING in love, BEING HUMANISTIC!….our capacity for work is expanded and our vision for social change becomes crystal clear. For we know without vision, the people perish.

So now what? ....