It Is Both The Best And Worst Of Times For Nonviolent Revolutionaries

While discussing today's world with a friend over lunch, my friend asked how I think things are going. I gave a bipolar answer: it is both a time of opportunity as well as a time of deep discouragement.

For those who read the blogpost on my wanting two nonviolent revolutions for Christmas (click here for the article), you will remember that I saw a need for two distinct revolutions: a structural revolution and a revolution of personal morals. The structural revolution is one that needs a great deal of coordination with others and participation in a number of national movements which do not yet exist. For the structural revolution requires that we significantly change our political and economic systems. The personal moral revolution needed is expressed in the words of Martin Luther King Jr. as he spoke against the Vietnam War (click here for the source):

I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

This moral revolution can be entered into anytime we are with friends, enemies, or strangers: though it should not be the only thing we talk about. We can participate in this moral revolution as individuals. It requires no collaboration with others or coordination with groups of people around the world. We simply need to point out King's words to others and let the chips fall where they may.
Thus, in terms of opportunities in which to participate, we are like a person who, for whatever reason, jumped out of his/her boat into an ocean of opportunities. We have ample chances to talk about the need for a moral revolution and that is the good news. We can, at almost anytime we desire, talk to people about the importance of counting people, whoever they are, as being more important than our gadgets (prophetically written for millennials?), profits, and property rights.

Now for the bad news: people are too apathetic to care. The hold of things on the lives of many people around us is terribly strong. Many people walk along in a trance provided that they have or believe they can get the things they want. This attachment to things makes them picture that they live on islands that are cutoff from the unpleasant parts of the world. This island living is what they want and they seem interested in only participating in those activities that maintain the status quo for them. But this island dream should cause us to think of the words of Rachel Corrie as she wrote in the book of her journal entries, Let Me Stand Alone:

all islands are the symbol of unenlightened desire

Though the opportunities to participate in this moral revolution are vast, the current going against the message is strong. Thus the return on our participation, in most cases, is small at best. But small returns are to be celebrated rather than to become a reason to surrender and join the crowd. We should note that it is the accumulation of small returns that can eventually, if not now, turn the tide. And that is what we can't lose sight of. To take advantage of our opportunities is to practice hope. To bypass our opportunities is to give in to despair by joining the crowd that values the present enjoyment of things over both the present and future welfare of people.