MAH:\u00a0<\/strong> I’m not really sure.\u00a0 Demonstrating is not my thing.<\/p>\n A peace activist\u00a0once asked Mother Teresa \u201cWhy don\u2019t you show up at our anti-war demonstrations?\u201d Mother Teresa replied, \u201cWhen you hold a Pro-peace demonstration, I will be there.\u201d<\/p>\n Rather than spending my time protesting, I’d rather\u00a0spend that time in a private space thinking about\u00a0the\u00a0issue (often identified as an injustice by protestors), digging deeper in search of its \u201croot cause. \u201d\u00a0 I prefer to spent my time\u00a0envisioning what it might take to change human behavior\u00a0to affect systemic change.\u00a0 My passion is the challenge of\u00a0acknowledging human tendencies, and devising a change that is long lasting and returns us to peacefulness.\u00a0 I use the term peacefulness not to mean the absence of differences\/diversity\/conflict,\u00a0but the respect for diversity and\u00a0the implementation of nonviolent constructive management of conflict.<\/p>\n A peaceful world\u00a0tolerates differences and promotes creative alternatives –\u00a0as long as these alternatives are consistent with\u00a0a sustainable way of\u00a0living \u00a0\u2013 e.g. finding a new way to burn fossil energy might be\u00a0creative; however\u00a0if the new idea\u00a0is not sustainable, it\u00a0would not be promoted in a peaceful world.<\/p>\n Reporter:<\/strong> So why are you out here?<\/em><\/p>\n MAH:<\/strong>\u00a0 I came to support my partner who is much more sensitive to the distress of others than I am.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She senses that there are many people currently in “a world of hurt” who are now speaking out \u2013 yet no one seems to be listening.\u00a0\u00a0 She believes it is her moral obligation to be out here with this group and to help amplify the voice of the people \u2013 the 99%.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m here to help her help them help us.<\/p>\n Reporter:\u00a0<\/strong> How would you summarize the “Cause” of this Occupy movement?<\/em><\/p>\n MAH:<\/strong>\u00a0 The diversity of people moved to come out and express their discontent with the status quo represents the complexity of the \u201cCause\u201d of this movement.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If there is a way to describe the typical person involved in this movement it might be: \u00a0They are conscious human beings who are in some form of distress \u2013 enough distress to speak out and ask for some help, In talking with these people, you find that their distress may range from the physical to the emotional to the spiritual.\u00a0 It ranges from being personally hungry and\/or homeless, to the lack of meaningful employment (i.e. a meaningful role in society where they feel they are contributing something of value and receiving a fair compensation), to a concern for their lack of wellness and inability to receive health care.\u00a0\u00a0 Their distress extends\u00a0to the emotional concern for their children and their children\u2019s future, to the general economic and political oppression they sense around them, to the emerging awareness that the profit motive alone when unconstrained has been, is, and always will be amoral and does not alone create a moral just country in right relationship with the world.\u00a0 Their distress includes\u00a0issues that are so complex I can\u2019t\u00a0understand them.\u00a0\u00a0 They are the 99%.\u00a0\u00a0 They are us.\u00a0 Most of us.<\/p>\n So the \u201cCause\u201d of the Occupy movement is just as difficult to put into a sound byte as a description of the people involved.\u00a0\u00a0 The Cause has become Reporter:<\/strong>\u00a0 So do you think anything meaningful will come from this Occupy movement?<\/em><\/p>\n MAH:\u00a0<\/strong> We can hope.\u00a0\u00a0 And we can help.\u00a0 If nothing more, we can open our hearts and minds to the fact these people on the street corners, in the parks, in the commons are real people with real issues.\u00a0\u00a0 If we don\u2019t understand, we can respectfully ask them, \u201cWhat\u2019s your problem?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Giving\u00a0them the bird as you drive by and shouting \u201cGET A JOB!\u201d\u00a0 or finding a\u00a0\u201clegal\u201d remedy to evict them from the commons and then arresting them is a perfect example of the disrespect that is the root cause of their\u00a0distress.<\/p>\n If the people of Occupy force us to become more conscious of our self-destructive behaviors so we can then change the way we relate to one another and become a more just, a more peaceful world, then something meaningful will have come from Occupy \u2013 seems that\u00a0may have already happened to \u00a0me personally.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Normally I sit quietly at home.<\/p>\n But I was there, holding my pitiful homemade sign with a picture of David Korten’s\u00a0book, “Agenda for a New Economy: Why Wall Street Can’t Be Fixed and How to Replace It<\/span><\/a><\/span>.”<\/p>\n
\nenough distress to tell the rest of us to wake up and acknowledge all of these
\ninjustices, and\u00a0to do something about it.<\/p>\n
\nthe voice of the many injustices we are experiencing today – in this country
\nand around the world. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As you can see by the messages on the ragged pieces of\u00a0cardboard,\u00a0unprofessional posters, and makeshift banners, the issues are diverse.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If one message stands out, it might be that of \u201ccorruption\u201d of Wall Street, of Corporations, of the Health industry, of Government and\u00a0Politics \u2013 basically a discontent with how we humans relate to and\u00a0treat one another \u2013 the 99% are telling us they are being abused by others and they are angry enough to voice their outrage.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.nowforourturn.org\/CosmicReflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/coverAgendaForNew-Economy1.jpg\" "\\"coverAgendaForNew")
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