http://youtu.be/nIfBJxRPn3o
Real activism for a variety of reasons is relentless, brutal
in a way, in taking responsibility for its own actions, and scrupulous in
avoiding taking responsibility for other's actions, be they coworkers or the opponents. Why? They
understand that the only thing they can control is themselves, nothing else,
ever. But in fully controlling themselves,
to be what they want to see in the world, nothing around them can remain the
same. The change in things around
them, might be miniscule, it might be never seen, but it has to be there.
And they're so focused on their own behavior, they're so
focused on being the change that the world needs to be, that they make huge
changes within themselves, they make, and invent, and create of themselves what
a human being should in their time. And
it causes, often, tremendous change in those around them in an ever broadening
sphere. They’re the tip of the
spear. The spear tip begins to form
behind them, and gets larger and larger and larger, and soon there's something
that can penetrate the hearts of others in great mass. Not always, but often.
They also understand an extremely counterintuitive reason
for never taking responsibility for the behavior of others. We are trained it to want others to take
responsibility for our behavior because it sets up a whole stream of opportunities
to not take responsibility for our own.
It is the very essence of codependency; of enabling. I need someone to take care of me. I need someone to tell me what to do. I don't want someone to tell me what to do. So instead of focusing on what my
responsibility is, I can focus on fighting with the person that's trying to
control me; wonderful excuse for avoiding personal responsibility. It sets up the opportunity to talk. We like to talk. We're taught in this sick culture that
actually standing, up putting our bodies in the way of harm, is naïve, foolish,
irresponsible, reckless, not be done, futile….
So when we take responsibility for the behavior of others,
we massively enable their ability to not take responsibility for
themselves. And the Unviolent warrior,
the insanely humane warrior, the ‘Marines’ and ‘Navy SEALs’ of Unviolent
warfare is all about, 1st, taking Sheroeic responsibility herself, and thereby
inspiring others to do the same. They
don't make the mistake of, with any breath, of not taking responsibility for
their own behavior, because that's their weapon, that's their hope. All of it.
And in doing so they create what Dr. King called
creative-tension, to the maximum, avoiding falling into the trap of dissipating
that tension by taking responsibility for others, for the reasons I just
mentioned, and thereby leaving that vacuum of creative tension, an ongoing pull on those
who would avoid their responsibility, to pull them into that space of
responsibility. It's brilliant. It's counterintuitive. And unless a bunch of folks step up to it, it
doesn't matter, because all the major doors, all the major windows are closing
now. But if these lessons are learned by
few, they might be learned by many.
There's still time to work a miracle, but not much.
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