Photo: Stacy Lanyon
What drew me to Occupy was the comm(unity) and the various people who come together to unite as humanity. I first heard about the Movement after the multiple arrests at the Brooklyn Bridge. When I first made my way to Occupy, at the Tree of Life, I had never felt so intimate with a group of strangers. We sat in a cipher of comradery and openness. After lots of meditation and sharing of personal stories, my spirit had been lifted into something I had never experienced before. For the first time, I felt a shake in my voice, almost apprehensive to speak and said, "I'm so happy to be here. I've always wore all of my being on my sleeve and never found any reciprocation. I'm humbled to share myself with hearts that are as big and loving as mine. Thank you!" For once, I knew these were my people. Finally I felt safe, welcomed and allowed to be who I was.
I think that the Movement is so important because I believe that everybody is so estranged from society. From an early age, I've always had an empathic curiosity for homeless people in NYC and impoverished families all over the world. I couldn't understand why a person, just like me, would have such little. More importantly, why was this acceptable? I wanted to help! And now I am. My mother asks me why I feel compelled to sleep on the streets when I have a home or dedicate all my free time to a cause that seems futile. I delicately but directly explained to her this -- I am lending my voice to those who cannot be heard, the millions of people around the world who experience nothing but poverty and oppression every day. I do this mostly for our tens of thousands of children who die due to simple causes and diseases each day. Our children shouldn't have their innocence and purity instantaneously stripped away when born into a world as fucked up as this one. I want to take care of our children and truly give them a better life, a life of happiness based on equality and human rights, not a life funded by greed manifested in the American dollar. We are all held accountable for everything that happens within our homes, wihin our neighborhoods, within our countries, within the world. If everyone felt obligated to rise up to these responsibilities to our fellow brothers and sisters, the world wouldn't see such suffering.
I think that the Movement is so important because I believe that everybody is so estranged from society. From an early age, I've always had an empathic curiosity for homeless people in NYC and impoverished families all over the world. I couldn't understand why a person, just like me, would have such little. More importantly, why was this acceptable? I wanted to help! And now I am. My mother asks me why I feel compelled to sleep on the streets when I have a home or dedicate all my free time to a cause that seems futile. I delicately but directly explained to her this -- I am lending my voice to those who cannot be heard, the millions of people around the world who experience nothing but poverty and oppression every day. I do this mostly for our tens of thousands of children who die due to simple causes and diseases each day. Our children shouldn't have their innocence and purity instantaneously stripped away when born into a world as fucked up as this one. I want to take care of our children and truly give them a better life, a life of happiness based on equality and human rights, not a life funded by greed manifested in the American dollar. We are all held accountable for everything that happens within our homes, wihin our neighborhoods, within our countries, within the world. If everyone felt obligated to rise up to these responsibilities to our fellow brothers and sisters, the world wouldn't see such suffering.
Ultimately, I would like to see a world that builds community with one hand washing the other. We are so fucking lost in a world full of consumerism. People don’t choose to learn how to fix it. There's much that many are displeased with, but some take no initiative to seek change. Even worse, they don't have any opinion of their own. They don’t care. Nobody fucking cares. They fucking take, and they take, and they take, and they don’t fucking care about anybody else. It enrages me because we are all responsible for each other, and people don’t look at it like that. If we can just practice selflessness, honesty and simplicity, we wouldn’t have the majority of the issues that we have today.
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/