Nothing to add ...
Nothing to add ...
It's been a while since I have written on this channel. There are multiple reasons, including a holiday and a trip to Tanzania for work. But when I sat down today to write, I felt very unsure if I can and should add anything to the digital discussion. As so many of us, I have felt really heavy in the past few weeks, given what is going on in the world.
But one of the main reasons is this post by Raïsa M that showed up in my LinkedIn feed the other day:
Two days ago, I stood up in front of a room of almost 400 young people from around the world to try and make space for conversation around world events.
And my brain went numb. Because I saw myself sitting in a similar audience as a 13 year old, as a 17 year old, as a 24 year old… (not that long ago, or was it decades ago, or was it just last year? time seems to be playing tricks)
Seeing the same stories, images, patterns of power and thought. Fighting for sanity with adults who thought they knew better what kind of world I needed to inherit. Who kept telling me that I didn’t understand. The world was too complex. That technology would fix it. So many excuses.
The same excuses for war, for destruction, for millions of innocent lives being lost using a very similar logic and language.
Get involved they said. Your voice matters.
Marches, youth rallies, research projects on the front lines of climate change and in humanitarian crises, conferences, essays and letter written to politicians. I’ve done some version of it all. Fighting to understand how it is we can change and make change or be change. What is change?
Can we change? Can we disturb?And to have to stand up in front of that room was almost unbearable to my spirit.
I did some breathing exercises with them.
I did a stupid thing and asked them to smile because my heart literally was breaking and I couldn’t lie to them that it was going to be ok. I tried to pull it together and mostly failed my students.
Especially the ones who needed me the most.And so coming on LinkedIn this past week, and seeing all of the people with so much power in their institutions, in foundations, in media, in banking and tech… People who publish essays every week with much smarter words than I can ever conjure. Who preach ‘systems Change’ and keep pretending the world is just fine.
That ignore the millions of people around the world in the street asking that children should stop paying the price for the insanity of adults. That mothers and fathers and people deserve the dignity of life no matter their religion or skin colour. Deserve water and hospitals. Deserve futures.Your world changing new framework won’t save us. I’m sorry to break it to you.
I was told, stand for office, elect politicians who represent you, we were told to elect you, to write to you. These same people are pushed out of a caucus for daring to say the thing that millions are saying.
What in the world are you actually fighting for? What is systems change in this interdependent world? When will we stand up and stop historical patterns repeating themselves?
I’m grasping for something.
Please can we stop pretending we know things when we have shown we know very little in fact?
Please can you stop telling me I don’t understand how complex the world is? I’ve stood in front of a room of young people and seen their eyes. That is complexity most of us cannot face or deal with.
There is nothing I can add to this.