*African proverb
The above picture showed up on my social media feed a couple days ago. If you don’t recognize her name, Greta Thunberg is the Swedish student who has been credited with raising global awareness of the risks posed by greenhouse gases and climate change, and with holding politicians and business leaders accountable for their lack of action on what she calls the “climate crisis.” Seeing this picture reminded me of a quote credited to the community organizer Saul Alinsky. He asked, “Do we think our way to new ways of acting or do we act our way to new ways of thinking?” On one level the answer is, of course, both, but in my experience it is when we take action…when we do something new or do something to make a difference…we find ourselves thinking differently.
Thunberg and Alinsky are both pointing us in the same direction.
Hope is not just there.
Around us.
Waiting for us to notice it or tap into it.
Hope is created.
Hope is called into being…
Each time we take a stand for what we know to be right.
Each time we act with integrity and compassion.
Each time we look at another and recognize a sister or brother and understand our responsibility to each other.
Thunberg is right.
Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.
And, we begin to think and see differently.
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