Over the last few months I've been working on 4-5 projects with different organizations working on different issues, local and national in scope, east coast and west coast based, big budgets and little ones. Yet despite all of the differences, at the core, each of the organizations are much more similar than they appear to be on the surface.
A few months earlier, I was going to write a blog post to add my voice to the flurry of commentary around B. Loewe's "An End to Self Care" article. One of the points I was going to make was that as change agents, organizers, and otherwise unlabeled folks committed to system change, we need to recognize that everybody brings their unique gifts and talents to the movement. For some, this is a whole body and mind devotion to their cause. For many others, they play the role of nurturer, thinker, donor, artist, confidant, writer, blogger, etc. or any combination of these or other roles.
As I'm immersed in the work of four incredible organizations, all trying to advance social change, I simulataneously wish there would be more coordination while honoring and respecting differences. The change we want to see--human rights, equality, justice, ample opportunities, the end to poverty, for example--is huge. And a movement for change is going to need everyone to contribute in whatever way that they can, doing what they love so they can stay engaged for the long haul.
I've read a little about Reyjavik's major, Jon Gnarr, and the Best Party he and his friends started. Their platform is comedy and it worked in that city of 120,000. I bring this up because I do long for a way to advance all of this change we're all working on within our democracy beyond the ground up. What if we all could really get together and collectively advance human rights? How can it make us feel more alive and hopeful? When will we be able to acknowledge our interconnectedness, how our actions affect others and the planet?
Here's hoping that 2013 highlights our interconnectedness and makes us all a bit more appreciative of each other .
A few months earlier, I was going to write a blog post to add my voice to the flurry of commentary around B. Loewe's "An End to Self Care" article. One of the points I was going to make was that as change agents, organizers, and otherwise unlabeled folks committed to system change, we need to recognize that everybody brings their unique gifts and talents to the movement. For some, this is a whole body and mind devotion to their cause. For many others, they play the role of nurturer, thinker, donor, artist, confidant, writer, blogger, etc. or any combination of these or other roles.
As I'm immersed in the work of four incredible organizations, all trying to advance social change, I simulataneously wish there would be more coordination while honoring and respecting differences. The change we want to see--human rights, equality, justice, ample opportunities, the end to poverty, for example--is huge. And a movement for change is going to need everyone to contribute in whatever way that they can, doing what they love so they can stay engaged for the long haul.
I've read a little about Reyjavik's major, Jon Gnarr, and the Best Party he and his friends started. Their platform is comedy and it worked in that city of 120,000. I bring this up because I do long for a way to advance all of this change we're all working on within our democracy beyond the ground up. What if we all could really get together and collectively advance human rights? How can it make us feel more alive and hopeful? When will we be able to acknowledge our interconnectedness, how our actions affect others and the planet?
Here's hoping that 2013 highlights our interconnectedness and makes us all a bit more appreciative of each other .
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