Dear Friend,
If we actually want to see peace and positive change come to this world, we have to, have to, have to believe in turning points. I know fighting for peace can feel like throwing tomatoes at Mount Everest but as solid as the ground feels, tectonic plates shift. When they do, we need to be there with a crowbar.
All of the progress our society has made—everything we have of free speech, democracy, the abolition of slavery—these things have all happened because people who care have climbed out of their moping and thrown their lives into the wheel at crucial moments. I’m writing because there’s been a lot of shifting lately and I think it’s time to ready our crowbars.
I’m going to a youth summit in D.C. this weekend and I think it could be a piece of this leveraging moment. I want you to come with me. It’s called Power Shift and is focused primarily on climate change, environmental justice, and sustainability—but if those aren’t your main projects, we’re in the same boat, and here’s why that doesn’t matter: one, our cares and visions are intertwined and it’s clear that we who look toward healing and justice should no longer work in fragmentation; and two, if our generation can be forged into a more cohesive body in which the strengths and voices of all the incredible young people here can synergize, there are a lot of old walls that don’t stand a chance.
If you can come, register today at http://www.powershift09.org. I think registration closes at midnight. If you’re at Wesleyan, EON has arranged a bus for us and we’ll find you housing too.
If you can’t come, or if you’re reading this after the fact, it’s not really after the fact, because I still want us to dust off our crowbars. Earthquakes take more than one push. Why NOT change the world? It absolutely happens, and it’s so much more fun than twiddling thumbs. See you on the fault line.
Love, laughter, and oh, the thing about giants is the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
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