Zig-Zagging Our Way to Progress?
All of us involved in social activism of any kind want to see a bee-line from the point we became aware of a problem to it being solved. If we understand the very nature of the beast, we know it never goes that way. That's why very few who start out with a passion for change stick with things over the long-haul. Unable to pace themselves, the majority burn out for any cause after a few years.
However, true social activists aren't "normal" folks. We get frequent reminders of this, in case we happen to forget. While we don't all have the same personalities, many of us come out in profile testing as "reformer." What most "normal" people do not understand is that those of us with this profile are also working on ourselves internally and thru our relationships, pushing ourselves toward self-reform even while doing the hard work of pushing against the 80-90% of "tuna" who have no interest in swimming upstream against the stagnation, and sometimes the roaring tide, threatening to silence us into apathy and denial that allows the majority to simply drift.
Then, something like the deadly events brought on peaceful protesters this past week comes along to momentarily get the attention of the mainstream. We see a monument to bigotry brought down at the same time we see a woman killed at the very first march she ever was a part of!
Now, added to our concerns for human rights violations is the concern for the safety of anyone daring to get involved. It puts us at a crossroads, as individuals. How many will shy away from these events now, traumatized by this? At the same time, we wonder how many will be awakened to join other advocates?
It's all related to an important, implicit message of the Spotlight movie. Though I dare say that most viewers never got that message or stopped to ask themselves hard questions like:
1. What does this have to do with me?
2. If I'd read about there being strong evidence of a ring of sexual predators operating in any profession in my town, would I have taken it on myself to stay after the journalist who wrote the article until I was satisfied the public would stay informed and the culprits brought to justice?
3. What would keep me from noticing and later justifying my actions? OR What in me would make me willing to stand alone, if need be, calling attention to the problem until others joined me?
4. Who are the people in my life who taught me, by example, to join the silent majority, believing that nothing can be done about a problem? OR Who, if any, are the people who have set the opposite example in my life or at least stood alongside me to support me in my own efforts?
If there was one thing I wish the Spotlight movie could have shown, in addition to all that it did do so well, it would be where Phil Saviano got his courage. Those people and circumstances that motivated him is a part of the dramatic, untold story that I briefly covered in Enlarging Boston's Spotlight. It's one of the many amazing, inspiring pieces of back story that the movie never even touched on.
Imagine if they'd known and could have shown Richard Sipe in a role he played that he may have discounted himself or perhaps never recognized. Oh, if the world could have seen Richard "preaching" to hundreds of survivors in a crowd where I sat taking notes in 1994, with a powerful leader just emerging, who sat listening among us that day--a guy named Tom Economus, whose appearance in a CNN interview motivated Phil to "get up and get going," though he'd already gone public with his story in 1992. If all of this had been in Spotlight, the film would probably have been 5-10 minutes longer. Yet, how much greater the impact might have been.
Ironically, Phil never knew of Richard's "sermon" in 1994, telling hundreds of men and women, "You are the prophets of your day." Yet, because of that sermon, many of us as activists "got up and got going" in various ways, spreading the good news around the world. The good news being that when courageous individuals dare to step up and join hands with others, pulling up the downfallen, as we did from around the world, then the Phil Savianos rise up and join the Groundswell of Voices. They faithfully draw on this brand of spirituality that the world does not embrace because the world says: "What's the matter with those folks? Who do they think they are?"
Courage comes when we decide to take a risk, even if that means standing alone. To make ourselves vulnerable for a cause greater than ourselves. Thanks to all who do that every day for the sake of the oppressed, no matter what the cause. That's what Enlarging Boston's Spotlight: A Call for Courage, Integrity, and Institutional Transformation is about--the transformation of individuals who've come to understand that few powerful institutions are ever transformed from the inside. Instead they must be brought to their knees by outsiders or inside "traitors," always seen by status quo people as abominable.
However, true social activists aren't "normal" folks. We get frequent reminders of this, in case we happen to forget. While we don't all have the same personalities, many of us come out in profile testing as "reformer." What most "normal" people do not understand is that those of us with this profile are also working on ourselves internally and thru our relationships, pushing ourselves toward self-reform even while doing the hard work of pushing against the 80-90% of "tuna" who have no interest in swimming upstream against the stagnation, and sometimes the roaring tide, threatening to silence us into apathy and denial that allows the majority to simply drift.
Then, something like the deadly events brought on peaceful protesters this past week comes along to momentarily get the attention of the mainstream. We see a monument to bigotry brought down at the same time we see a woman killed at the very first march she ever was a part of!
Now, added to our concerns for human rights violations is the concern for the safety of anyone daring to get involved. It puts us at a crossroads, as individuals. How many will shy away from these events now, traumatized by this? At the same time, we wonder how many will be awakened to join other advocates?
It's all related to an important, implicit message of the Spotlight movie. Though I dare say that most viewers never got that message or stopped to ask themselves hard questions like:
1. What does this have to do with me?
2. If I'd read about there being strong evidence of a ring of sexual predators operating in any profession in my town, would I have taken it on myself to stay after the journalist who wrote the article until I was satisfied the public would stay informed and the culprits brought to justice?
3. What would keep me from noticing and later justifying my actions? OR What in me would make me willing to stand alone, if need be, calling attention to the problem until others joined me?
4. Who are the people in my life who taught me, by example, to join the silent majority, believing that nothing can be done about a problem? OR Who, if any, are the people who have set the opposite example in my life or at least stood alongside me to support me in my own efforts?
If there was one thing I wish the Spotlight movie could have shown, in addition to all that it did do so well, it would be where Phil Saviano got his courage. Those people and circumstances that motivated him is a part of the dramatic, untold story that I briefly covered in Enlarging Boston's Spotlight. It's one of the many amazing, inspiring pieces of back story that the movie never even touched on.
Imagine if they'd known and could have shown Richard Sipe in a role he played that he may have discounted himself or perhaps never recognized. Oh, if the world could have seen Richard "preaching" to hundreds of survivors in a crowd where I sat taking notes in 1994, with a powerful leader just emerging, who sat listening among us that day--a guy named Tom Economus, whose appearance in a CNN interview motivated Phil to "get up and get going," though he'd already gone public with his story in 1992. If all of this had been in Spotlight, the film would probably have been 5-10 minutes longer. Yet, how much greater the impact might have been.
Ironically, Phil never knew of Richard's "sermon" in 1994, telling hundreds of men and women, "You are the prophets of your day." Yet, because of that sermon, many of us as activists "got up and got going" in various ways, spreading the good news around the world. The good news being that when courageous individuals dare to step up and join hands with others, pulling up the downfallen, as we did from around the world, then the Phil Savianos rise up and join the Groundswell of Voices. They faithfully draw on this brand of spirituality that the world does not embrace because the world says: "What's the matter with those folks? Who do they think they are?"
Courage comes when we decide to take a risk, even if that means standing alone. To make ourselves vulnerable for a cause greater than ourselves. Thanks to all who do that every day for the sake of the oppressed, no matter what the cause. That's what Enlarging Boston's Spotlight: A Call for Courage, Integrity, and Institutional Transformation is about--the transformation of individuals who've come to understand that few powerful institutions are ever transformed from the inside. Instead they must be brought to their knees by outsiders or inside "traitors," always seen by status quo people as abominable.
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