We'll be fine

Call me an optimist. I won't argue. It's much better than all the doom and gloom I'm finding on the internet today. Sure, things didn't turn out the way a lot of people (including me) expected or hoped. So now it seems there's a lot of depression, fear or anger taking the wheel because it's too easy to imagine worst case scenarios. The building of walls. The decimation of our climate. The proliferation of nuclear arms. In other words, the end of our world as we know it.

But who is really in charge? The spirit of the world's people. And no matter how decisive an election victory, it's the will of the people that leaders must obey, or they find themselves thrown over in a hurry. The non-violent power of the people is incredibly strong. Remember...

- the suffragettes who got women the vote?
- The Resistance in World War II?
- Ghandi's work for the independence of India?
- Rosa Parks and the March on Washington?
- The nuclear disarmament movements of the 80s?
- "People Power" in the Philippines taking down Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorship?
- The Polish Solidarity movement?
- Nelson Mandela and the end of Apartheid?
- The dismantling of the Berlin Wall?
- The Occupy Movement?
- Idle no more?
- The Paris Climate agreements?
- Click here to see where I found most of these great events and even more.

We human beings are a work in progress, we are more than our elected leaders, and we are the ones who call them to be better than they even know they can be. And, bottom line, every single one of us, leaders included, are brothers and sisters, beloved children of God, so dissing one another is never helpful. Instead, we need to love one another, to stand up for each other, and to remember that it's not "us against them."

It's only ever us.

Followers are leaders too, sometimes...

I've been moodling a lot about what happened yesterday on my walk with my neighbour. And after writing about it here, I shared my little reflection with a few people. My friend Rodney, who left the comment below it, shared a great little "mockumentary" about leadership and the importance of followers. I can't figure out how to make his link work in the comment section, and since I think the movie has something important to say, I'm posting it here. Take a look. It's only three minutes long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO8MwBZl-Vc

What I really love about this example of leadership is the emphasis placed on the followers. The sunburned "lone nut" guy does what he has to do, but his efforts are going nowhere until the first follower joins him. And the second. And they're all leaders.

Kind of like what happened yesterday. I think Mary Anne and I were probably wondering if we were nuts, period, until the elderly gentleman joined us in picking up those tiny pieces of ribbon. He was probably the most important guy in the group. He kept complaining that he wasn't being terribly effective because it was hard for him to reach the ground, but he never quit. And when other people came along and saw him working (he might have been closer to ninety), how could they stay un-involved?

Actually, two of the walkers did... but had I realized the importance of the second followers, it would have been nothing for me to say, "Hey, many hands make light work. Why don't you help us?" Except part of me was in observer mode, wondering what they would do. Had any one of us invited them, it would have been hard for them to walk away.

Anyway, in the end, six of us made up our little movement, and it didn't matter who were leaders and who were followers by the time all the glittery stuff was picked up. The bandwagon rolled, and people jumped on. But now I see how it might roll a little differently next time... 

Thanks for the lesson, Rodney Al!