Thank you for a powerful context for the times we're living in today. I've been sitting with all the national and global violence of the past week and mourning this unhealed legacy burden, an acid drip on the collective soul. Then I thought about american novelist Herman Melville's book Moby Dick published in 1851. He too was holding up a mirror to his times. The ghosts of our ancestors walk among us today do they not? After yesterday's public "No Kings" show of resistance (an unfortunate title imho), one of my guides, Grace Lee Bogg's rose in my heart and I share her wisdom here:
“Still, it becomes clearer every day that organizing or joining massive protests and demanding new policies fail to sufficiently address the crisis we face. They may demonstrate that we are on the right side politically, but they are not transformative enough. They do not change the cultural images or the symbols that play such a pivotal role in molding us into who we are.”―
Grace Lee Boggs, The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First
Thank you for the reflections Rocky! We're in paradox-filled territory here where it's hard to know what is enough. GLB's message seems to capture a lot and is certainly relevant to my intentions with the series--the confronting of images and symbols, and the normalization of what they mean. It is potent to evoke our ancestors now in the spirit of creative, courageous resistance, resilience and regeneration.
Thanks for chiming in Sammy. Doing this research and writing these articles has been transformative for me and I'm happy to know there are a few others they resonate with.
Thank you for a powerful context for the times we're living in today. I've been sitting with all the national and global violence of the past week and mourning this unhealed legacy burden, an acid drip on the collective soul. Then I thought about american novelist Herman Melville's book Moby Dick published in 1851. He too was holding up a mirror to his times. The ghosts of our ancestors walk among us today do they not? After yesterday's public "No Kings" show of resistance (an unfortunate title imho), one of my guides, Grace Lee Bogg's rose in my heart and I share her wisdom here:
“Still, it becomes clearer every day that organizing or joining massive protests and demanding new policies fail to sufficiently address the crisis we face. They may demonstrate that we are on the right side politically, but they are not transformative enough. They do not change the cultural images or the symbols that play such a pivotal role in molding us into who we are.”―
Grace Lee Boggs, The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First
Thank you for the reflections Rocky! We're in paradox-filled territory here where it's hard to know what is enough. GLB's message seems to capture a lot and is certainly relevant to my intentions with the series--the confronting of images and symbols, and the normalization of what they mean. It is potent to evoke our ancestors now in the spirit of creative, courageous resistance, resilience and regeneration.
I read Howard Zinn and others and I see and know how blind we are to the lies and illusions we have about our history. Thanks for a great article.
Thanks for chiming in Sammy. Doing this research and writing these articles has been transformative for me and I'm happy to know there are a few others they resonate with.