“Sometimes you have to not just dream about what could be – you get out and push and you pull and you preach. And you create a climate and environment to get those in high places, to get men and women of good will in power to act.”
John Lewis
In Ireland, we march to be seen in the wrong ways. But I’m struggling to quantify that view.
I seldom ever go back to edit a word I’ve written. Such thought goes into each one. I think it’s more of a poetic process. They can usually stand the test of time. I still don’t feel marching is the only way or even the most important way forward. But I’ve come to admit over the months, that if I was on a different shore – I’d be right out there. It’s called protesting or even rioting. Maybe this is our mistake? By comparison, it’s akin to a Sunday stroll here.
And as I absorb the words of John Lewis in, His Truth Marching On, I see this even more clearly. However, I also see that I would have been in the background running those vital non-violence workshops to build the core of each warrior. It’s the work I do now.
What I’ve come to see is there is a very subtle but significant difference in marching for your validation from others and your rights.
This means you don’t continue to feel deep-seated doubt for your own gender, sexuality, skin tone or place in society. The changes reinforce your own courage. You were never seeking approval – you were seeking fair treatment. You knew your worth before you took to the streets.
This is why we need to build the individual core. Then you can protest for the rights of all.
It’s funny one of the benefits of dividing your energies between the personal and the universal is that you often get to work on hurts on a microscale – in order to help the bigger sphere heal. The macro. But all the time you focus on what seems small and individual. But vitally doable.
Naoisé 8th September 2020
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