#132 A Courage Project

Dear all,
A stunningly beautiful month of April, a new grandson--life is full of gifts.  I've been taking the 15-month old to the community garden every time I have him; this week it was cold and we just sat for a while, bundled up, listening to the birds.  I'm taking in the truth that where we choose to put our attention, that is where we develop the capacity to notice more.  I hope his ear is always attuned to the birds.
And I'm so pleased that the State Department has not approved the Keystone XL pipeline, but delayed any action, and I choose to believe that our messages to the President--of all kinds--played a role in that decision.
Love,
Pamela




A Courage Project

You can have fear without courage, but you can’t have courage without fear.  As I’ve been thinking about how we can best support each other to do scary things, I realize that we can take a lesson from the children.  They look for activities that will test them—climb a tree, walk through a culvert, jump across a gap, have an adventure in the dark, tell scary stories.  Children are pulled to test their courage, in a heady mix of fear and excitement.

As adults, some of us still thrive on risk; others are more cautious and prefer our thrills well buffered.  Both tendencies are being increasingly accommodated by our consumer economy.  Those who want risk without protection gravitate toward extreme sports.  Those who prefer to consume it safely have a range of manufactured thrills available, from parachute and bungee jumping to amusement park rides.

It’s a paradox.  On the one hand, we are protected from risks in small things as never before; on the other hand, the big dangers we face are unprecedented.  These are times that call for enormous courage about things that are real—the courage to face threats to our future, to welcome chaos, and to find our way together into the unknown.

I thought a lot about courage at a recent day of action on climate change, when I ended up stepping away, at the last minute, from risking arrest.  Rather than going on auto-pilot to do what seemed “brave”, I found myself choosing a path where I could stay more present and connected to myself, while still being involved in the action as a whole.  As I reflected on this experience, I realized that there are many ways of being brave, and my most courageous act had probably taken place several days earlier: after noticing that I had been very quiet about my plans, I spent an evening daring to share with a wide circle of friends both my passion for the earth and my feelings about the action.  Showing myself fully:  now that’s scary!

Courage is not one size fits all, and nobody can take another person’s courageous step, but we all can be braver in ways that are completely our own.  What if each one of us did a personal inventory of the times and places where we have been brave, and brought them to our community for acknowledgment and celebration?  Then we could look at where our fears keep us quiet and passive, and develop personal courage campaigns.  With a buddy or a small group, we could share our intentions to practice being brave—in our families, at work, with our neighbors, in the larger community—and come back to share our successes, or grieve our failures, and get ready for the next courageous step.

What are mine?  Talking about what matters to me even though others don’t seem to care.  Openly trying a response, even though it might fail.  Letting others know what I’m trying, and inviting them to join me.  Once they’ve agreed, then sticking with it, holding out confidence that any second thoughts or complaints (theirs or mine) are just a way of showing our fears.

At a recent workshop on easing the transition to lower energy use by building resilience at a local level, the leader asked if anyone had the courage to build a core group that reflected their diverse urban neighborhood.  I was surprised at her use of that word, but raised my hand.  I’m not good at it.  It’s not coming quickly or easily.  But I know what it takes to put my hand on the phone, think of a million useful things that I could do so much more easily than call somebody who is not yet in my circle, or who doesn’t yet know how much I care about something that may not be on their radar screen, pause, breathe deeply, then make the call—and, when I don’t hear back, then make it again.

We don’t know how courageous other people are.  We don’t know what it costs them to do things that might seem easy to us.  But together we can all do more. I’m looking to recapture that model from our childhood:  A gang of buddies coming across—or setting up—a challenge.  An open acknowledgment of fear:  Yikes, this is scary!  Do you think we can do it?  I don’t know.  Let’s try anyway.  Okay, here goes!  The squeals of excitement/fear, the shivers running up and down our spines, the uncontrollable shaking.  Then assessing the results together:  Wow, we did it!  Wow, almost, let’s try again!  Wow, that didn’t work at all!  What next?  Could there be a more human way of being in this world together?





Dare to imagine:  A new economy is possible!

Local planning
Cape Cod is one of the few places in the country that embeds economic criteria in its planning policies and requires that large projects get approval from both the host town and a regional planning body, the Cape Cod Commission.  The Commission is made up of representatives from each of the Cape’s 15 towns, and focuses on how the development would affect Cape Cod’s economy and environment.  After looking closely at a proposal to bring in a new Lowe's, the Commission concluded that “the probable benefit of the proposed development is not greater than the probable detriment.”

A pivotal issue was the store’s projected impact on jobs and wages. One of the region’s primary planning goals is to increase household income. In a region already saturated with building supply stores, Lowe’s arrival would cause many existing local businesses to downsize or close, leading to a net decline of 48 jobs.  Moreover, the new jobs at Lowe’s would pay $9,000 less on average than the jobs lost at local stores, resulting in a total income loss of over $3 million for the region’s residents.

Armed with this kind of analysis, the Cape Cod Commission has approved relatively few big-box stores in its 24-year history.  Not surprisingly, Cape Cod has significantly more independent businesses per capita than the national average.

http://www.ilsr.org/smart-planning-policies-protect-good-jobs-cities-vote-big-boxes/




Easter sunrise

Well before dawn
biking toward the Easter morning sunrise
a bird I do not know greets me with cheery song.
I take it in, rejoice, bike on.
The bird song follows,
block after block after block.

Is this one bird following me
intent to gladden my heart
and make my ride a joyous one?
Is he passing me on from friend to friend—
in some sweet welcoming relay?

Or am I just a witness
in that pre-dawn dark and cold
to all the heralds of the day?

The thought that it is personal
brings on a smile.
The sure knowledge that
these birds will sing the sun up
as long as they have breath to sing
reminds me of the chance we have each day
to give our thanks
for all the life the sun makes possible
on Earth, our home.





Some things that have made me hopeful recently

The Obama administration's Good Friday extension of the review period on the Keystone XL pipeline, pushing back a final decision on the disputed project indefinitely, to have time to review some 2.5 million public comments, and assess the impact of a pending lawsuit in Nebraska.

Philadelphia's move to the forefront of a national movement to protect immigrants from deportation over minor and nonviolent crimes, by limiting the information it shares with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

A restorative justice program in Oakland California's public schools, which has led to dramatic reductions in suspensions and referrals for violence, as well as increases in graduation rates and test scores.

The opportunity to connect with individual women artisans in Guatemala and orchard planters in Azerbaijan and Tajikistan through the no-interest lending program of Kiva.




More resources


Posts on other people's blogs:  http://www.classism.org/children-mass-culture 


NEW:  Check out my friend Daniel Hunter's new book, a narrative of direct action campaigning:  Strategy & Soul: A Campaigner's Tale of Fighting Billionaires, Corrupt Officials, and Philadelphia Casinos:  www.strategyandsoul.org

Muscle Building for Peace and Justice; a Non-Violent Workout Routine for the 21st Century--an integration of much of my experience and thinking over the years:  doingdemocracy.com/MB4PnJ02.htm  (or just google the title)

faitheconomyecology.wordpress.com, a website that I've contributed to often (check the archives)

www.ourchildrenourselves.org, a home for all the parenting writing I've done over the past 20 years.

www.startguide.org. START: a way to study and work together with others to create a better world.

For earlier columns, go to www.pamelascolumn.blogspot.com.  I'm currently posting at pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com.