To Live and Be Revolution(ary)

Wednesday, May 11, 2011



In a Facebook Note titled "The Future", former college professor and staunch activist, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz writes (in part):



“Some thought the revolution was around the corner, certainly "in our lifetime" (although many of the same people who thought that believed they would be killed before turning 30). Others, cooler heads, thought it would take a little longer, a generation, maybe two.



“The authentic revolutionary, or so we thought of ourselves, had no time cap, as long as it takes, by any means necessary…[r]evolution, the struggle itself, was a way of life, not an event…we were all washed up at the base of a vast, impenetrable wall, the past erased, the future right there, against that wall, the ruins of our present, trying to jump-start the past. . . .What now?”




At the time of this reading I was sitting in bed recovering from a migraine that had been plaguing me since the day before, when I feebly responded:



“off the top of my head, i think "what now?" is more rhetorical than not, which causes me to have some dread...my initial feeling (s) is that we've exhausted, to some extent, the answers, possibilities...it's almost like we've tried everything.

and now that i believe that you may be correct in your assertion that revolution is more a way of life than an event, i am completely and utterly exhausted by all the efforts put forward thus far in this struggle to now want only to see it reach some conclusion...but i believe that once i catch my breath i may get right back in that struggle because i believe in it. what now, indeed.”

I love when I am challenged to think about matters like these and am able to make them personal (as in what is my responsibility to this struggle?) and measure my abilities to then be proactive about making change happen. In essence, the revolution begins with me, within me, and I don’t want to make it any harder than it already is. I want to make it possible, by any means necessary, for me to do the work that I need to do to participate willingly, but more importantly, mindfully in this way of life. As I continue to heal from yesterday’s migraine, I am strengthened by the thought that I am, indeed a player in the unending struggle (and indeed, there are so, so many struggles) to bring revolution forward, everyday, and that this way of life will continue even when I am no longer a part of it. I am aware that I am not alone in this/these struggles, and while I am catching my breath to get back in the game, I understand how important it is for us to take care of each other. For me, revolution is not only a way of life, it is a way to be and I am not afraid to be and to live my life as revolutionary as i can.