The Focus of Our Work

Greetings Fellow Travelers,
It has been a challenging week,as I engaged various aspects of the elements blocking to successful completion of the work to make our lives better. When I think about the universal struggle for social justice, for human rights, a pattern of distress among the campaigners is evident. Work such as conflict resolution, advocacy for victims of oppression, crisis intervention, struggling to break free of the ubiquitous chains that bind us to systems that do not nourish, is profoundly demanding and the rewards often few and far between. It is a tremendous testimony to the character of our valiant comrades, that they continue to struggle, often times as unsung volunteers, without pay or other reward, material. We become experts on fighting oppression, but in the process run the risk of paying for that devotion to the cause with our soul. We fail to be gentle with, to care for and to nourish ourselves.
The focus, of our work, becomes obscured by that "nose in the grinder approach". In my opinion the ultimate product of our struggle is not only to overcome oppression, but to create and experience our vision of liberation and enrichment of our humanity. It is essential that, even in the midst of the struggle, we continue to live our vision of the better world we are bringing into being. It is understandably alluring to become experts at diagnosing, assessing and fighting oppression. I posit that imperialism and the agents of the system have institutionalized, created a culture of pathological orientation, used to oppress and can draw us to a life of working to defeat this enemy. But even as, we work to overcome our challenges, my message is that we remain conscious and dedicated to our strategic objective, and constantly in thought, action and relations to our comrades, notice that we are on the upward trend. We should live, be the model of the world, the victory we are trying to achieve. The focus of our work, what we are fighting for, not just against, has to be evident as nourishment and enrichment of our lives, here and now.