Photo: Stacy Lanyon
I was living in Georgia when it first started happening. My mom told me about it, and I started doing my research online. I wanted more than anything to come check it
out, and I thought I couldn’t because I had an apartment, a boyfriend, two dogs
and a job. I felt kinda stuck. I couldn’t just drop everything. Literally,
I would sit and cry because of the fact that there were people talking about
the things that mattered to me, people discontent with this system, and I couldn't be a part of it. Then a
bunch of crazy things happened, and I ended up here. I ended up losing all of
those things that I mentioned. I came to visit for a couple of days, and I never left. I got sucked in.
This is important because it’s inevitable. It’s
going to happen. It’s happening because it has to happen. We’ve reached a point
in time where people can’t do it anymore. They can’t function. I can’t live in
this world and be silent and complacent, so it’s a mixture of protesting and
getting your message out and helping other people to be aware of the fact that
the way they live their lives and what they are unhappy about doesn’t have to be like that. It’s also extremely crucial to
build community, and that’s what this is. It’s important on so many levels. It’s
important for me spiritually and politically, and it’s important
for each person. I’ve heard so many people say, “Occupy saved my life.” It’s
important for us individually, on our individual levels, and that importance
combined is like the most powerful thing, ever.
For each one of us sitting here, there’s like a thousand
people watching and being inspired, people who feel like they can’t be here for whatever reason, and I think about people who are in prison,
political prisoners who are inspired by us, and it keeps them going. We’re the foot soldiers
out here. That’s what we are, and we are representing a large global thing,
which is like really serious and crazy. That’s
why with eviction theatre, there’s a lot of goofy things that are happening,
which is good. It alleviates the tension, but I want to see more somber things
because it is really serious. I feel like we can’t mess this up, and we can’t
give up because I feel like it is an option for this to fail, but I don’t think
it will fail.
I
don’t think I’ll see the world that I want to see in my lifetime. It’s sorta like a sacrifice. I think we have a long ways to go. It feels lofty, but it’s
what we’re currently doing, so it’s not lofty. What I envision is a world where
imaginary borders don’t exist. We all inhabit the same world. Instead of borders,
you have clans or tribes or communities or whatever you want to call it, people
that you trust. Money has got to be different. This whole imaginary money thing
can’t go on, and the obsession with money, money as god can’t go on either. I
imagine a world where bartering takes place and mutual aid. It’s hard to
envision, and sometimes it feels like it’s never going to happen. The microcosm
is the macrocosm, so the world I envision is what happens in this park every day.
You work, and you do work that you want to do. Everybody has a role, and
you get what you need and more. I don’t think I’m going to see it in my
lifetime, though, but I could be wrong.
Some days are pretty dark for me. How
are we going to fight all of this when we can’t even get along with each other
sometimes? In my mind, the world that I hope to see, it doesn’t involve just happiness
constantly where no one has a disagreement. I don’t
know. It’s so hard to even wrap my head around. It’s so crazy. It’s such a
spiritual thing. I know that what we are doing is right, and I know that it’s
going to lead to something. I kinda have decided to live more in the present
because if I think about this world that I want, I get
kinda discouraged because it’s so not like that at all. As I sit here, I’m
looking at a bank and a Babies "R" Us, and I’m just like, everywhere you look are
just disgusting things.
It’s almost like we’re going to have to
deprogram hundreds of thousands of years of programming that has led to this,
so we’re just now throwing the wrench into the machine, and we have to
deprogram, which happens on an individual basis every day. You encounter someone who doesn’t understand, and then you talk to them , and they
understand. We’re here because we want to be here, and it’s enjoyable because
we want our voices to be heard. It doesn’t matter
what your voice is saying. It’s about speaking your mind and it not falling on deaf
ears, which makes it difficult because we don’t embody this one world vision.
We all come from different back grounds and different ideas, but that’s what it’s
all about.
Interview by Stacy Lanyon
http://buildingcompassionthroughaction.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/stacylanyon
https://instagram.com/stacylanyon/
https://twitter.com/StacyLanyon
http://stacylanyon.com/
Interview by Stacy Lanyon
http://buildingcompassionthroughaction.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/stacylanyon
https://instagram.com/stacylanyon/
https://twitter.com/StacyLanyon
http://stacylanyon.com/