22 July 2018
A PERSONAL MANIFESTO
A PERSONAL MANIFESTO
It is not my goal to “convert” someone to my point of view.
.. though I do admit I want to get people thinking more than they (we?) have
become accustomed to not thinking.
I take pleasure in socializing – and becoming better
acquainted with – people who maintain opinions and beliefs both close – and
wildly divergent – from my own.
Society does not gain by striving to be a monoculture. It loses.
We all need one another mainly because we are here together.
You may be skilled at repairing my car; I may have carpentry or analytical
skills that you lack.
The lady down the road is a superb gardener; her brother
amazingly adept at repairing appliances.
Your cousin knows her way around the hard drive of a
computer, while my distant great aunt can cure many ailments using herbal
medicine and reiki.
Still others know ground water geology and dowsing, how to
maintain generators, mill and plane wood boards. And there are those who can
teach – or identify flora, fauna and minerals – and how to put them to good
use.
Let us not forget the storytellers, scribes and mystics
amongst us either.
We must help one another because it is practical. It is also
humane and sensible.
We have thousands and tens of thousands of skills and assets
to share. We need to start sharing and swapping our abilities while uncoupling
our reliance on the money culture if we are to live and thrive more
successfully.
MAKING SOCIAL CHANGE
MAKING SOCIAL
CHANGE
Affecting Social Change is much more than mouthing slogans
or sound bites.
It can mean devoting hours - days - years - spending time with those who are reluctant and unwilling to hear the truths of others or to work at changing existing social policy or considering other ways of living.
Yet making the fundamental changes in the values that underlie oppressive social policies require interacting with those who oppose us.
This must be done before we get to the voting booth, before we get to legislative committee hearings or public forums.
We need to get our points across and to affect change in board rooms and private offices; in juvenile and adult corrections, mental health, the courts, in educational, cultural, legislative and personal spheres ~ where ever decisions affecting all our lives are made regularly and daily ~ and we need to do this now!
We must infiltrate the meeting places of adversaries and decision makers who oppose eliminating wrongs.
We must insist upon and make impact by directly negotiating policy change, laws and directions for the future. Once there, being heard, we have to make our points clearly enough to be effective advocates for change.
Now, affecting change doesn't necessarily make for chit chat or small talk at parties. You won't be making friends with those you meet and confront at policy planning or while negotiating change, nor will your own friends necessarily want to know about the details of your efforts.
Even if we cannot immediately make changes to oppressive social policies or practices, our mere presence in some of these meeting places can prevent additional harmful policies from being implemented. Also ~ remember to stay in touch with others who know what you say to be true, and to refresh and replenish yourself from behind-the-scenes battles rather than burn yourself out. Stay healthy to battle successfully.
It can mean devoting hours - days - years - spending time with those who are reluctant and unwilling to hear the truths of others or to work at changing existing social policy or considering other ways of living.
Yet making the fundamental changes in the values that underlie oppressive social policies require interacting with those who oppose us.
This must be done before we get to the voting booth, before we get to legislative committee hearings or public forums.
We need to get our points across and to affect change in board rooms and private offices; in juvenile and adult corrections, mental health, the courts, in educational, cultural, legislative and personal spheres ~ where ever decisions affecting all our lives are made regularly and daily ~ and we need to do this now!
We must infiltrate the meeting places of adversaries and decision makers who oppose eliminating wrongs.
We must insist upon and make impact by directly negotiating policy change, laws and directions for the future. Once there, being heard, we have to make our points clearly enough to be effective advocates for change.
Now, affecting change doesn't necessarily make for chit chat or small talk at parties. You won't be making friends with those you meet and confront at policy planning or while negotiating change, nor will your own friends necessarily want to know about the details of your efforts.
Even if we cannot immediately make changes to oppressive social policies or practices, our mere presence in some of these meeting places can prevent additional harmful policies from being implemented. Also ~ remember to stay in touch with others who know what you say to be true, and to refresh and replenish yourself from behind-the-scenes battles rather than burn yourself out. Stay healthy to battle successfully.
Poetry - "Political {Poem"
political poem
You let me look too long.
And then sent me home to tell about it.
One step short, one damned elusive step away
I write to you without your responses
Why should I care for one?
You don’t even know I’m there.
All the better
I know you’re there
I know of your capacities, your aims, goals
and hopes
yet you know naught of mine.
I daren’t be too specific
You might just catch on
Make use of those powers at your disposal
to thwart that which I only begin
Now
To see myself, that I possess
You can make me rich, too, if you wish
But you cannot
buy me.
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