The Missing Point: March 2013

Thursday, March 21, 2013

MISSING MARCH

March 22, 2003 - ten years ago tomorrow: denied a march permit for Feb 15, United for Peace & Justice organizes a march expecting 50,000 participants. Just days after the initial assault of Shock and Awe - 300,000 people flood the streets of New York to say No to War. “What do you want? When do you want it?”

Tomorrow I’m going to reclaim this power. I’m going to reflect on the feeling of freedom that came from standing in solidarity with millions around the globe. I am going to renew my vision of peace.

And I am going to march. Perhaps you will pick up a sign or a banner and join me?

On Facebook, Twitter, your blog - you can wrangle an entire banner with just one person! Feel free to swipe the sign and banner images below and share them widely. You can also find the images on Facebook. Use them to share your thoughts and your feelings. Take this opportunity to reclaim, reflect, and renew. “Peace - Now.”

What is The Missing Point?

Living in a society that values independence, competition, & the work ethic among its most cherished principles; it can be a challenge to step outside our cultural comfort zone and consider alternatives to these powerful and pervasive ideas. A familiar dualistic pattern plays out day to day across our country, each of us scrambling to take sides in some new improved venture of us against them. We find a welcome comfort participating in this endless argument, reframing our point again and again to persuade our adversary that we are right. But what do we win when we “win” the argument? And what do we lose when we choose to argue rather than to share in dialogue? Our adversary may be “missing the point,” but perhaps we are too. Perhaps if we took the time to reflect and let go of this conditioned impulse to defend our position, if we can even claim ownership of the position we so ardently defend, then we could actually start to consider and create the alternatives we might want.