I often think about the following words, usually attributed to the anthropologist and sage Margaret Mead:
Never doubt that a small committed group of citizens can change the world. For indeed it is the only thing that ever has.
This is true. The transformative movements toward a fairer, safer, less violent world are almost always animated by small local groups - Gandhi's Salt March began with him and just 78 followers, and culminated in the independence of an entire country. It was handfuls of people sitting at lunch counters or taking the bus across state lines who grounded the Black Civil Rights movement in local activism. The Northern Ireland peace process was fertilized by individuals and small groups across my homeland, engaged in the long term work of loving their neighbors, and their enemies; often risking their own safety to engage in dialogue with people who might have done them harm.
We might bear in mind that the transformative power of small groups applies to the shadow as well as to medicine. The three largest genocides of the twentieth century began in the minds of three men (Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Pol Pot) and a small group of adherents.
But most of us, most of the time, are somewhere in between. Not evil enough to be Hitler, not brave enough to be Gandhi. I know that's where I am. However, if we wait for a charismatic hero figure to save us, we will have missed the truth that even charismatic hero figures need the rest of us to work with them to achieve their goals. And if we do nothing, then we give up responsibility to people whose shadows are running the show, continuing to operate out of the old stories of domination and violent retribution.
As we witness the current outpouring of resistance to the violence continually inflicted against persons of color in the United States, we may wonder how best to lend our energy to these movements. We have learned from wise and experienced teachers that the most important thing any of us can do is to participate in building a beloved community, non-violently dismantling the supremacy of anything that isn't rooted in love. It’s really as simple as that.
The first step is to ask two very important questions:
1) What resources and privilege do I have, and how can I use them to serve the common good?
2) What lack do I notice, and who are the communities from which I can ask for help?
We want the New Story Community to be the kind of space where both of those questions are both asked and answered.
So this week, let's be in conversation together about how to serve from the privilege we each may hold, and how to share solidarity and support in the places where any of us is experiencing lack.
Practical and poetic ideas are both welcome. Join us over at the New Story Online Community (it’s free to sign-up) - share your questions and your wisdom, and let’s move forward together.