“Peaceful protest and non-violent resistance say, ‘We’re demanding a better world, beginning with ourselves.’”
As outcries against inequity and injustice become global, we must hold fast to the spiritual nature of non-violent revolution. If we do not, our peaceful demonstrations will all too easily devolve into the same destructive entity we’re confronting.
Empathy for our neighbor’s needs and a longing to see every person’s troubles remedied as fully as our own, can conquer the bigotry that prefers combat over conversion and choosing sides rather than winning hearts.
Greed is an ill without a cure. When it has possessed a system of government, that system cannot simply be adjusted. It must be renewed at the foundation.
Compassion must fuel policy. Requiring just wages, just profits, and just taxation are heart concerns - not temporary political appeasements. Government can be generous as well as prudent. And it must be, if it is to endure.
The desire to share with others and seek proportionate prosperity must begin with individuals. We cannot expect any system of government to be more caring than we are, nor can we tolerate one that is less.
Violence is never an option to those who understand its perpetual pernicious nature. The power of influence is greater than the wielding of authority, for winds of change can blow through the tiniest cracks in the fiercest of battlements.
What unites us is our humanity, a shared existence on this Earth, inhabiting an increasingly populated planet, and a common life that breathes and feels and needs, regardless of race, religion or national pride.
We want a better world, not simply a more efficient government. We want to be better people as much as we want to be a more prosperous people. We must learn to rejoice in our neighbor’s well being as much as in our own.
We want to leave a world for our children where dialogue, discussion and action respond to dissent rather than oppression or suppression of ideas. We want future generations to see that love is greater than hatred and that generosity towers over greed.
Peaceful protest and non-violent resistance say, “We’re demanding a better world, beginning with ourselves.”
We’re not simply seeking change we can believe in, but change that all people can happily live with.
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AJCalhoun
mypsyche
Reflections of a shallow pond
Colony of Losers
Persephone13
Rob St. Amant
Salon.com
Comments
@patricia - Thank you so much for your kind words. I'm hoping it both can and will be so.
~R~
Lovely to see you resurface and with such wise reminders at this transitional time ..."winds of change can blow through the tiniest cracks in the fiercest of battlements."
“We’re demanding a better world, beginning with ourselves.”
Where it all starts.
If this upwelling of sweetness and inclusiveness, humor and agape can survive a brutal winter and the forces of the state, we may be onto something...
"we, the citizens of the now democratic nation formerly known as the usa, declare to all that in assembly we are the masters of our state, all law, policy, and planning have effect only after agreement by half the voters, plus one or more."
I can imagine the un-honed drafts and re-reads preceding the completion, the distillation.
I enjoyed the elegance in your words, regardless of the coincidence of my total agreement. (rated and appreciated)
@Duane - Thanks, my talented friend.
@Scarlett - I’m grateful for your very kind words and especially your phrase “this transitional time.” I believe with all my heart it is just so. Thank you.
@John - Any encouragement from you is always treasured. You’re one of the wittiest and most talented wordsmiths I’ve known.
@Myriad - So much of what you wrote resonated with me. My generation has witnessed the power of non-violent, peaceful protest. We witnessed inroads made for civil rights and human rights, a war stopped, a president resign, and a mighty influence felt to this day in journalism, art, and humanitarian causes.
Effecting this type of transformation will not come easy, but I believe greed and power tipped their hands too soon to remain seated. To everything there is a season. I believe this is a time ripe for real and compassionate reform.
@al - If collectively we can begin by bettering our own actions and responses while seeking reasonable, yet actual, changes which reflect and demonstrate our concern for others, the eventual rules which govern such a system can be birthed from compassion rather than graft.
@candace - thank you dear lady for your insight, optimism and kind words. I’m pretty sure many of us know we’ve felt these winds of change before. We’re more than burned and twice shy of systems, parties and politically compromised beings. But we can effect change as people, united with the same heart and same love for one another.
@Lorraine - My dear sister who works tirelessly to champion righteous causes and educate us all concerning them. I’m grateful for your encouragement.
@Patricia - I wholly agree. Such transformation is and will be good for all. Greed and power may blind, but truth is a light that even the greatest darkness cannot ever fully extinguish. Thank you for your kind comment.
@Stacey - How wonderful to “see” you again my artistic friend. As always you remain too kind and generous, but deeply appreciated.
@ Steve - “Yes” indeed :)