Leadership

Be out in front of the crowd  by M.H. Wilson

“A free market is essential because of the number of opportunities the market provides for the people.”

Gandhi is reported to have said; “When the people lead the leaders will follow.” There is a lot of truth in those few words. If we look at history big changes have started with people in the general public and after years of struggle these changes were successfully adopted by politicians, who we generally think of our leaders.

The American Revolution began in the streets of Boston with the Boston Massacre and then the Tea Party. 

The Abolition movement was promoted in the churches and was pushed by public speakers who were willing to take on the establishment.

The women who fought for the right to vote weren’t in office but were determined to change things and they put their reputations and lives on the line to get that right even though it took years and they put up with all kinds of humiliation, ridicule and sometime imprisonment.  They prevailed and convinced the nations’ so called leadership to adopt the twenty-first amendment which gave women the vote.

African-American fought long and hard to end slavery and then had to deal with the Jim Crow Laws.  It was black churches collecting pennies and change that funded much of the struggle. While the Civil Rights movement had help from whites and a few others it was mostly the black community that dealt with the backlash from the powers that be regardless of the public humiliation, beatings, jails and death dealt to them by the local establishment. Only when the national press picked up the story did the politicians feel the need to get a backbone and stop the madness.

Working men and women fought for the right to organize and better working condition.

Everyday homosexual men and women fought for equal rights and to stop being arrested or labeled mentally ill. It took years for the politicians to join the cause, many of whom were gay themselves.

It was the crowds in the street who led the effort to end the Vietnam War and pushed the politicians.

It was Geronimo, the Apache warrior, who fought the longest war against the American government.

It was not the federal government who stood up and fought for the right of others at Wounded Knee in 1973. It was Natives from the reservations that took a stand and said no more

The Drug War is being fought by everyday people such as Dennis Peron who pushed for the state to recognize the value of cannabis in treating those who were dying from the Aids epidemic long before the politicians even were concerned enough to consider such thoughts. 

Regardless of how you might feel about any of these issues it was the people who refused to sit down and shut up who changed things.

There will be times when you question your own sanity and if you didn’t then you might actually need help because when you are up against the state it can get pretty lonely. You will ask yourself if it is all worthwhile but remember that others have been through the same predicament. Many have given all. Just ask Sophie Scholl and the other young people who were members of the White Rose and gave the lives in an effort to resist Hitler.

Whether it is a small effort against a local zoning ordinance or a major one such as the Drug War you will often be worn out and sometime helpless but struggle on because it is the right thing to do and these efforts are not called struggles because they are easy. But remember that many have gone before you and if you are right the effort will succeed and you will have set a standard that others will try to live up to and it will always be worth the struggle. Don’t quit now. You’ve only just begun.

Remember you are cutting a path that others will follow. 

End