Holding Hands

Recently, Jen Savage (one of my favorite fellow bloggers and writers) wrote a guest post for The Humboldt Herald in response to BP’s horrific oil spill.  In it, she called for everyone “to create a new image… an image of a united demand for new clean energy instead of the same old dependence on oil. Join ….Hands Across The Sand …[which] takes place nationwide. Join the call for clean energy on the North Coast.”

The response in the online world was often ugly.  The comments ranged from crazed to cruel to coldly practical.–“Driving, or sharing rides, to the beach to protest offshore oil seems a bit counter to the cause.
What about a day of not consuming oil/gas?”

I have to confess that the later comment made sense to me.  In fact, driving to a beach to stop oil drilling seemed counter productive to a lot of people, a lot of good people.

But the reality is that there is a force when humans gather together that can be used to create new realities-Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. are only two of the leaders who understood this method as one of their best strategies for achieving incredible societal changes.

Tom Sebourn explained this event and another he attended many years ago this way, “The world didn’t change because of people holding hands. People changed because of the world holding hands.” These same people could have driven to the grocery store, the mall or the movies but instead they came together on beautiful beaches worldwide hoping to raise awareness of a critical need for a change in energy policies.  They did it out of hope.

My theory is that whatever people do to combat despair, whatever they do to build community, if it works for them, even if it doesn’t work for me, I should support it.  There is enough apathy and discouragement in the world.  I don’t intend to be part of the suffocating blanket covering up the first breath of what may grow to be a vital response.

So I may not drive hours to hold hands, I may not even be convinced that the event alone will solve anything, but I do believe that people who care, who join with others who care, can do a hell of a lot in this world.  Protests and marches have changed the course of history. I hope that from this beginning will come world changing action.

I hope so for my sons’ sake.  Someday they’ll want to hold hands with their children on a beach.

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6 Comments
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Goldie
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Goldie
13 years ago

Beautifully expressed. Tom did a good job too covering the event. Yes, we need to imagine another way and together is the only way to do it
Thanks Kim.

Goldie
Guest
Goldie
13 years ago

Beautifully expressed. Tom did a good job too covering the event. Yes, we need to imagine another way and together is the only way to do it
Thanks Kim.

Bob
Guest
Bob
13 years ago

I drove to the beach for the Hands Across the Sand event and sure I recognized the irony. A friend who walked from Trinidad to Moonstone Beach (an hour stroll, but beautiful) complained about those of us without the same commitment she showed.
Later that day I drove to Blue Lake to help honor David Simpson and Jane Lapiner for their years of work on climate change issues. They made a point of their own use of fossil fuels jetting around the world for summits and conferences, even driving over the mountain from Petrolia to get the Prize of Hope award. Ironic? Sure. Worth it? Absolutely.

Bob
Guest
Bob
13 years ago

I drove to the beach for the Hands Across the Sand event and sure I recognized the irony. A friend who walked from Trinidad to Moonstone Beach (an hour stroll, but beautiful) complained about those of us without the same commitment she showed.
Later that day I drove to Blue Lake to help honor David Simpson and Jane Lapiner for their years of work on climate change issues. They made a point of their own use of fossil fuels jetting around the world for summits and conferences, even driving over the mountain from Petrolia to get the Prize of Hope award. Ironic? Sure. Worth it? Absolutely.

Staff
Member
13 years ago

Human society is full of nuances and contradictions–kind of makes us interesting. And I have faith that our collective will can accomplish change. We need to encourage people who are working to change energy policies and we need to do the best we can to change ourselves.

Staff
Member
13 years ago

Human society is full of nuances and contradictions–kind of makes us interesting. And I have faith that our collective will can accomplish change. We need to encourage people who are working to change energy policies and we need to do the best we can to change ourselves.