Change We Can Believe In—I know this phrase has been bandied about so much in the past few months that it’s now being used to mock OBama. But I learned last night what that phrase means. First, I learned—once again—that “change” in its truest meaning is never what I expect or imagine it will be. And second, I learned that not even Madison Avenue could have made me “believe” in the change I have experienced last. The change that has taken place in me, Jervais, Gwen, Maxine, Pauline, Gerry, Roosevelt, Richard, Rita, Ann, BJ, and all the others at the OBama Headquarters in Bessemer, AL, is the change I can believe in.
We meet on the edge of “the racial divide” of Bessemer in a small office space next to appropriately “Unity” Florist every Thursday evening from 6 – 8 p.m. Pauline, Maxine, Jervais, Ileen, and I are usually among the first to arrive at 6. Others come after work, after supper, or after school so that by 8 o’clock all 50 or so chairs are full and people are standing in the lobby.
We open the meeting with prayer, then reports begin. First Debbie Dobbs gives the Voter Registration Committee report and updates us as to where, when and how many voters were registered at each event during the week. So far we have over 1,500 new voters “in hand,” Debbie’s hand that is. She looks after the registrations like a mother hen. And none of us has any doubt that those voters will get to the poles. Other reports are given as people file into the room.
Then the precious time of the meeting comes– introductions. Jervais, a minister for 40 years, calls this “heart check” time and used it in church board meetings to help people bring not only their heads, but their hearts into the meetings. As people rise, introduce themselves and tell why they are at the meeting, an important change comes over everyone—African-American, White, young, old, male, female, educated, high-school drop-outs, rich, poor (in the South that’s pronounced “po,’” as we all know.)
For some unknown reason, I have been designated the “greeter” for the group. So, when introductions come around I’m the last to stand up and introduce myself. Last night I opened my mouth and let the “meditations of my heart” spill out once again, as I know all there had done when their turn arose. And a sense of peace came over me.
What we said is not nearly so important as how we said it. We shared our hearts, opened our lips, and suddenly our words showed forth who we are at the core, human beings.
I grew up in Mississippi in the turbulent ‘60’s, when race was explosive. Though I was on the side of racial justice and harmony then, I was disappointed that the ideal got sullied with everyday things that didn’t change. But sitting at the meetings week after week, seeing faces become individuals, seeing commonality of interests and goals, and simply being there, I understand that this is the real thing. This isn’t a “trickle down” change, but a “grass root” change as Gwen says. . .the kind of change that affects people from the inside out, from then on, and wiggles out in all directions.
This is the change we can believe in. But it’s not the kind of “belief” that fits snuggly into any of my past conceptions or even future expectations. It isn’t popular, nor is it something I can even pledge my allegiance to. This belief is the kind of optimism that makes a crocus flower bloom in the snow, that makes birds hatch, and children learn to walk. It’s a “belief” that won’t be stopped by individual disagreement or color. It’s the understanding we all come from the same Good Father and Gracious Mother. It’s not the kind of belief that I could ever have imagined or even expected given my past judgments and comparisons. It is “grass root.” I just have to believe.
I don’t know if Senator Barack OBama even meant to imply these things when he adopted the slogan “Change We Can Believe In.” Perhaps, he didn’t. But that’s irrelevant to me now because I know that not only have I changed, but I believe the change in me and in those folks at the OBama Headquarters. And that’s the kind of Change We Can Believe In because it from the inside out, one nation, indivisible.
Refuel-Retool-Renew – 19-Aug-08
My husband and I were discussing the recent interviews with Barack O’Bama and John McCain at Saddleback Church in California. We were sitting in our living room – that happens to be in a 48’ houseboat – in the middle of a picturesque cove on the Black Warrior River. Both of us – O’Bama supporters before he started his campaign – said it was the first time we had seen McCain do so well in an open discussion.
“He’s been coached for a week or two about how to speak and what to say,” I said.
“But they didn’t know the questions. And still he used the Republican ‘catch phrase repetition’ so well. ‘Drill. Drill now. Drill here!’ He used little stories…”
“No matter that they didn’t answer the questions Pastor Rick asked… who wants to drill at the Saddleback Church, especially with all those rich folks there! Two thousand dollars a ticket!” I interrupted.
“But,” he continued, “if that’s what Americans can understand and believe, then Barack needs to get some catch phrases and say them, too”
“Ad infinitum,” I added.
“If that’s what it takes. He needs to be elected because he is the best for the job,” Jervais said.
“Something like ‘Refuel. Retool. Renew.’” I said.
“Something like that,” he nodded slowly. The conversation turned to something else.
On Monday afternoon, still on the boat, the three words came back to me. Now they took on a little more meaning – refuel with resources that we have in abundance, retool our auto and power industries to use renewable energy, renew the earth—air, land, and water—and the hope of our children so our grandchildren have a shot—even if it’s slim—of surviving the global climate disaster they will surely face.
This time Jervais said, “That’s good. Those words would do O’Bama well.” We began to talk about how to get them to O’Bama. I said I would email them to him, or at least his campaign chairman who’s always emailing me for donations. I said I would talk about them at the next “Bessemer for O’Bama” meeting and everywhere. I would put them on the “my O’Bama” blog and on our blog. So, here goes.
REFUEL – RETOOL – RENEW
REFUEL – the freight trucks with propane rather than diesel fuel, as oilman T. Boone Pickens suggests. . .Number 1 because the U.S. has a supply of natural gas equal to the Middle-East’s oil supply . . . Number 2 because it can be done quickly and easily and immediately reduce our dependence on foreign oil supply by 25 to 30 percent and reduce our carbon-based emissions significantly.
REFUEL – the mind and imagination of our scientists, politicians, children, and entrepreneurs to use a myriad of as yet un-imagined solutions to global warming and economic decay . . . like the Woods Market in Ft. Scott, KS, offering customers gasoline discounts for food purchases. . .Just one company offering a simple solution to high fuel prices.
REFUEL – the economy by redirecting the billions of dollars now going to foreign countries to American education and industry, American children and families, American homes.
WITHIN 2 YEARS REFUELING WILL MAKE AN IMPACT
START NOW
******************
RETOOL – Our power supply to accept solar power from the West, wind power from the Mid-West, and water power from the East and South. Retooling the power grid will provide jobs for the unemployed and will lower carbon emissions.
RETOOL – Industry to use our resources in responsible ways – our land, our timber, our minerals, and our clean, potable water. Give a bonus to industry for using renewable power resources and non-pollution.
RETOOL – Government to help us preserve our resources in responsible ways. Our lives depend on clean water, clean air, and uncontaminated food. Every man, woman, and child on Earth breathes the same air.
RETOOL – Our educational system to provide learning. . . not skills designed to past a test, but skills designed to allow our grandchildren thrive in an ever-changing world that needs their wisdom.
*****************
RENEW – the minds and bodies of our children through addressing the whole child – mind, body and emotions—with informed care that is universally available regardless of bank account or color. . .
RENEW – our hope and imagination through art, music, writing, and dance in our schools, homes, and in our national culture.
RENEW – our land with responsible agricultural practices and legislation; our air with responsible carbon-reduction laws and practices; our families with opportunities to work, play, and rest in peace.
RENEW – Our “One Mother” Mother Earth.
Many scientists say that Vice-President Al Gore’s estimate that in 10 years the polar ice-caps would melt is too conservative. Most scientists now say that within 5 years – FIVE YEARS – THE ICECAPS ON BOTH POLES WILL BE GONE…SIGNALING RAPID GLOBAL WARMING. Us old folks can probably out-walk the rise in the oceans that will come about in our life time. But our grandchildren may not survive the shrinking food supplies, rising disease, and water and air pollution that the crisis will bring about
OUR GRANDCHILDREN . . .not our GREAT-GREAT-GREAT grandchildren, but our grandchildren may not survive.
“I am one person. I am only one person. I can’t do everything, but I can do something. That which I can do, I will do through the grace of God.” The O’Bama slogan
If not NOW, when? When will we take action?
If not me, who? Who will care enough to speak out?
These three words “REFUEL – RETOOL – RENEW” and their meanings needed to be written and said by me because I can.
**************************
I am not putting down John McCain, nor Saddleback Church, nor O’Bama. I am saying that there is a crucial issue beyond abortion, beyond taxes, beyond stem-cell research, and beyond which version of religious faith one adheres to.
The issue is the very survival of the Earth as we know it. Yet, precious little has there been said by either candidate about the reduction of air pollution that was so evident at the Olympic Games in China; about the destruction of the oceans that once teemed with life; about the decimation of forests and grasslands that we depend on for every breath.
A Hindu chant says “We are one. We are many. We are different. We are the same.” I changed the last phrase to “We breathe the same.” We are all passengers on this planet and the crisis of global climate change cannot be quieted, slurred over, or tucked away. We are all ‘EARTHLINGS.’ All our grandchildren are at risk. . . red and yellow, black and white. . . in 20 years, the President of the United States elected in 2008 “when IT happened” will be called to task.
Do we want to elect another president who wants to destroy our national forests by allowing logging of virgin timber? A president who will allow drilling for carbon-based fuel in an already fragile ocean? A president who will allow companies to continue to pollute the earth, water and air because they can do so more cheaply and with NO repercussions!
Every seer, every religious text, every modern prophet says that we are now called to decide the fate of the Earth. And, together we can. We can REFUEL, RETOOL, AND RENEW America and the Earth.
