Help
Sign In
Poems
June 2009 
My Activism
Posted on Dec 10th, 2007
by 
Melinda
Melinda
1. First of all, my activism involves raising my 4-year old son to grow up as conscious & aware as possible. On all levels. There is nothing more transforming in society than an aware individual. All action (and non-action) flows from this. He is not my creation and never will be. My task is simply to bring himself to himself. To be midwife to his real birth (although: who knows where life & consciousness truly begins?). The rest will follow. Of course, I also cannot help relishing the delicious fact of his existence. This being. In my house. In my life. It's astounding.
2. One cannot raise a child without being influenced by the process. You have to be the person you want your child to become. Years of effort, growth and much, much good luck has brought me to a place where I, as an individual, could finally become somewhat useful to the world in a larger context. Until recently, this has been the primary focus of my "activism" - just to become whole enough. As you know, its a process that never really ends.
3. But I want to go further. Because for me there is simply no other way to live. You cannot "save" yourself. For what? You can only burn. Burn up. Burn up with a transforming love for the ten thousand things of this world. What is there to do, except to help the beautiful things of this world to flourish? Death will come. Until then. What else is there to do but burn ? Fire is the process whereby matter is transformed from one form to another.
4. How language influence us and behaves as a carrier of meaning fascinates me. So: I'll be learning Spanish over the next 3 years because language is one of my stronger points. Not a talented poet, I am nevertheless interested in the potential language has both to transform, clarify and to obscure, mislead. Also, I want my son to know another language and to develop a closer understanding of a people whom the dominant culture over here (California) tries to obscure.
5. Participate with my son in local children's charity organizations. Learn the nuts & bolts of direct service to people in need. Raise him with community service as a natural given, not a luxury option.
6. Enter the public domain for the benefits of open conversation.
This is a decent start. Yes?
2. One cannot raise a child without being influenced by the process. You have to be the person you want your child to become. Years of effort, growth and much, much good luck has brought me to a place where I, as an individual, could finally become somewhat useful to the world in a larger context. Until recently, this has been the primary focus of my "activism" - just to become whole enough. As you know, its a process that never really ends.
3. But I want to go further. Because for me there is simply no other way to live. You cannot "save" yourself. For what? You can only burn. Burn up. Burn up with a transforming love for the ten thousand things of this world. What is there to do, except to help the beautiful things of this world to flourish? Death will come. Until then. What else is there to do but burn ? Fire is the process whereby matter is transformed from one form to another.
4. How language influence us and behaves as a carrier of meaning fascinates me. So: I'll be learning Spanish over the next 3 years because language is one of my stronger points. Not a talented poet, I am nevertheless interested in the potential language has both to transform, clarify and to obscure, mislead. Also, I want my son to know another language and to develop a closer understanding of a people whom the dominant culture over here (California) tries to obscure.
5. Participate with my son in local children's charity organizations. Learn the nuts & bolts of direct service to people in need. Raise him with community service as a natural given, not a luxury option.
6. Enter the public domain for the benefits of open conversation.
This is a decent start. Yes?
Access: Public
More than a decent start, Melinda. I love the fact that you have come to the same conclusion that I have – that there are more effective ways to make the world a better place than through politics. It's all about love, conversation and community. The next step, perhaps, is widening this circle to identify and include others who in conversation and community can help you (and your child) decide what else needs to be done, and in the process reciprocally helping them learn, discover and understand how things are today and what they need to do next to make the world better. That's true activism, beyond the rhetoric and echo-chamber bombast that most mistake for activism.
Thanks Dave. 'It's all about, love conversation and community”. Great choice of words because, implied in these words are all the vital ingredients for being human together - such as understanding, listening, awareness, responsiveness, learning, and much more… It's from this rich loam of interactions that new institutions like intentional communities, for example, will grow.
About the beast we call politics, I am probably not as disengaged as you might think. You and I do agree on this though: politics will never transform society. It absorbs huge amounts of time, energy & resources and produces outcomes which often have no reasonable relationship to the input - nor with the original intent of the initiators. As much as I can, I try to avoid it.
But it's there. And when it stands directly in my path I have to engage it. Whether I want to start a new school, open a business, or raise my child in a non-conformist manner, I run into politics everywhere I turn. Laws & regulations. It's unavoidable and have to be engaged. (Some parents and teachers in my community looked into starting a new public elementary school - it's a regulatory & legislative nightmare!) So, I say: to the extent that one has to deal with the beast, do it as effectively and efficiently as possble - after having calculated the cost in advance. Otherwise: spend your time & energy where it has a more immediate or reasonable effect.
When Dinosaurs are thumping around in your neighbourhood - make sure you know where their feet are going to come down.