Photo: Stacy Lanyon
I found out about Occupy Wall Street through a group I was
involved with in Portland , Maine Washington
and other places and wanted to be a part of it, but I was never able to. It was
one of those things where I was like, “Oh, this is the right time for me to do
something like this.” I thought it would be a few days, maybe a week. I came
down on September 17th with five friends from Portland . I got here two hours early and
watched as everyone showed up. I stayed for a week, went back to Maine , came back for
another week. Basically, I fell in love. I got a job in Maine two weeks after Occupy started that
was on the weekends, and I commuted for five months. I quit my job in February,
and I’ve been here pretty solidly since then.
It’s a huge task, and sometimes I’m overwhelmed by it. The
idea of opening minds and making visible change in the world is enormous.
Occupy contains facets of pretty much everything that I’ve been preparing for
my whole life. I think that the most important thing that we do is create
community and live by example. The personal is the political, and it's important that we bring our own experiences and our own histories together. I try to
live by example. It’s kinda cliché, but “Be the change that you want to see in
the world,” I really take that to heart. Something I find in Occupy is people
willing to listen to each other and willing to have their ideas changed and
learn from each other and learn from experiences.
I think it’s really about solidarity. The really important
thing that we’re creating here is solidarity within our community and around
the world. People are waking up to whatever they are passionate about and living
that and creating a world where it’s possible to live that. We all come here
from different places with different histories and different backgrounds and
different agendas. We are here fighting this fight
together, and even when we disagree, we’re still there for each other and
still have each others’ backs. I think that’s really revolutionary. I think
that’s the change I would really like to see as a whole. Also, People have
their agenda and what’s the most important issue to them, but we are also realizing
how all of those issues are connected. It’s not that we don’t have a message,
and it’s not that we’re confused about what we want. It’s kind of the opposite
of that. It’s that we have so many messages, and we are realizing how they are all
interconnected.
I think why it’s so important also bears directly on the
people that have been involved. I think this has been a life changing event for
all of us. Everyday, I’m in these situations where I step back and am like,
“This is absurd.” I could never have imagined this back in August, any of this.
Everything we've been through has been the most incredible learning experience that I could
imagine. It's amazing how much it’s changed me and my life and those in my community. I've gained so many friendships through this. I think something that I hear a lot is
people asking, “What has Occupy done?” I feel like everything we’ve done is a
huge life changing thing, and if any of the things we’ve done so far is all
we’ve done, like if all we did was change the conversation on a national level,
it would have been enough. If all we did was create a beautiful community in
the financial district and get to know each other and listen to each other, it
would have been enough. The fact that we’re still going and still pursuing
change is huge.
I hope for a world where people are genuine with each other
and really are willing to take the time to listen to each other. I hope for a world where we try and see where the other person is coming from and
understand their reality and support them in their endeavors, even if it’s different than our own reality . I also want a world where people stop taking themselves so seriously and
lighten up and have more fun. I’m working for a world where people aren't
afraid to be silly, where people really support each other and are concerned
about each others’ happiness and where happiness and wellness are the most
important considerations in who we are and how we relate to each other, a world
where we are inclined to think of the happiness and wellness of those around us
as important as our own, and necessary to our own happiness and wellness.
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/