This essay,
Standing For Transformation Ain't No Place For Sissies,
is the companion piece to
The Things People Do.
I am indebted to
Laurel Scheaf
who inspired this conversation and contributed material.
Standing for transformation ain't no place for sissies - not because
it's an integral
act
requiring a certain integrity nor to a lesser extent because it's a
moral
act
requiring a certain morality nor even because it's a good
thing to do or even the right thing to do ...
and ... it may have elements of all of the above.
If you're going to be standing for transformation where there's none,
at the same time you may also be taking an integral stand or a moral
stand and / or be doing something good, or some or all of the above.
But way more than that, you'll be putting yourself up against
a world
ie up against
a force of nature
which has a vested
interest
in you and me and everyone else for that matter, staying
un-transformed. That's what you'll be up against. That's why
standing for transformation ain't no place for sissies (it's really
important you get that the pitch ie the skew of
our world
is away from transformation not toward it).
Inexorably,
this force of nature,
left to its own devices, drives
our world
deeper and deeper into untransformation. And turning that around ie
standing for turning that around, ain't no place for sissies.
Inexorably,
this force of nature
also drives us deeper and deeper into untransformation,
deeper and deeper into righteousness, deeper and deeper into
defensiveness, deeper and deeper into clinging to what we already know,
into clinging to the way it's always been, into clinging to that with
which we're already familiar. This
force of nature
is uncaring,
relentless.
And if it wasn't in play, you and I couldn't survive.
Now: if you're going to stand for anything at all,
wouldn't it be something you consider to be stand-for-able? Some
would have us believe that standing for transformation is really
standing for
Life itself.
The question is: is
Life itself
stand-for-able? or is that doomed to fail because it's just
too much
to take on?
Committing
to standing for something which ain't stand-for-able, knowing there's a
pretty good chance it will fail because it's just
too much,
is what ain't no place for sissies. It ain't no place for sissies to
stand for transformation knowing there's a pretty good chance you'll
fail because it's just
too much,
and yet standing for it anyway. Standing for it anyway -
resolute,
committed
- ain't no place for sissies. You'll need push-back. You'll need that
tool in your
tool box.
And watch: the irony of all this is it's the standing for it
anyway which dramatically decreases the odds of it
failing. Standing for transformation
in the face of
untransformation, righteousness, defensiveness, and what we already
know, ain't no place for sissies. Look: it's
a powerful force of
nature
that has life and our lives drift in that direction when left
unchecked. It's not simply mastering the distinctions and
conversations for transformation
rotely that are likely to turn it around. It's the standing for
transformation ie it's being transformed while
articulating the distinctions of transformation in
conversations for transformation.
Standing for it counts. Standing for it requires guts. What's
interesting
is with
commitment,
anyone can master standing for transformation.
It's a stand that isn't always fully appreciated. But when it's in
play, it has the power to move
mountains.
Keeping it in play
in the face of
untransformation, righteousness, defensiveness, is what ain't no place
for sissies. It's easier to win points by winning the debate ie by
being convincing in the argument, than it is to stand for
transformation
in the face of
untransformation, righteousness, defensiveness. While winning points
may be simpler, that's not an effective
transformative
medium.
A demonstration
is worth a thousand words.
Demonstrating
transformation / standing for transformation ain't no place for
sissies.