Soul Fire

Tending the Fire

“The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.”

Ferdinand Foch

I have to say the marches here and in China are a welcome, though frightening, sight. It is inspiring to see the crowds who are still demonstrating in Ferguson, Missouri more than a month after Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager, was shot by police. And not only inspiring, but it's the way real change happens. The young folks in Hong Kong who have been demonstrating for a month about elections, and the Chinese government's promise to allow them to choose their own leaders, will change China for the better. Civil disobedience has a proven track record all around the world. I am old enough to remember not only our African American Civil Rights movement in the 1960's, but also Lech Walesa in Poland, and Cesar Chavez, a Mexican American farm worker, both of whom led successful protest movements that changed the labor laws. There is great power in a soul on fire, and true leadership comes from it.

I also understand the annoyance caused by such demonstrating. There are business owners and everyday citizens, not to mention good and worthy police officers, whose lives and livelihoods are being impacted by all the unrest. I feel for them as well. Change is messy and chaotic—and change on the scale of the current movements is doubly so. I remember, however, that it was shutting down “business as usual” that turned the tide in the American Civil Rights movement.

Dag Hammarskjold, the second Secretary-General of the UN, said, “Never for the sake of peace and quiet deny your convictions.” And he was right. As queasy as it makes us feel to anticipate the man-handling these young people will receive at the hands of authorities, whose job, after all, is to keep the peace, we don't want them to stop. Their cause is just. Keeping it peaceful and sustained will bring about the change they seek. Their leaders must tend that soulful fire, and lift their spirits so they can fight the good fight. We Boomers had a saying back in the day, “Power to the people!” I say it to you now, Ferguson, and to you, Hong Kong. Power to you.

                                                           In the Spirit,

                                                                Jane