I am reading this book. “Small Acts
of Resistance”, it was given to me by Michael Sanders who was on
one of my teams on the Race. This book is absolutely stirring up
something in me. I would try and sum it up by my words, but why do
that when someone, a real writer, already did so on the back cover?
Change begins with small acts that
may have looked pointless at the time: acts of resistance, acts of
bold defiance, or acts of witty disobedience even sometimes in the
most dangerous of circumstances. The stories in this book come from
all over the world, Serbia to Sudan, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
This book celebrates the ingenuity and remarkable courage of the
human spirit and those who, throughout the ages, have stood up to say
“no”.
Several stories told in this book are
familiar, the story of Rosa Parks, or Nelson Mandela. But there are
hundreds of names so unfamiliar to me… and those are the ones that
stirred the pot of justice. A fifteen year old Claudette Colvin
peacefully protested in giving up her seat on the bus, just
nine-months before Rosa Parks. She later became a key witness in the
Federal District Court to outlaw segregation on buses forever. One
push. With one voice and what seemed like no one along side her in
that moment, Claudette said no more.
Rusesabagina was a hotel manager in
Rwanda during the genocide. He risked his life to save thousands.
“There was nothing particularly heroic about it… I did what I
believed to be the ordinary things that an ordinary man would do.”
He single-handedly saved 1,268 men, women, and children.
“No snowflake in an avalanche ever
feels responsible” – Stanislaw Lec
“Never doubt that a small group of
thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is
the only thing that ever has” – Margaret Mead
“There is no reason anyone would
want a computer in their home” – Ken Olsen 1977
“Whose hand but yours and mine can
pull back these curtains” Iranian Song, “Yare Dabestani”
I think of young Mary in the Word of
God. A teenager, so young but her response to God changed everything
forever. People thought she was out of her mind, I’m sure if this
happened in our days she would have been called schizophrenic, or a
lier, or an adulteress… I bet her home church might even kindly
ask her not to come back for about 9 months. But she said yes. She
responded to the call, and birthed the Redeemer. She allowed heaven
to invade this earth, she gave birth to God in the flesh!
So a challenge for me and you?
Yea, we have an opportunity. We have
life. We have life everyday. We have a choice everyday to fight for
something, with our hearts, with our voices, with our love for
justice and each other. To be remembered as a person who stood for
SOMETHING. A person who lived, or died, to see change in this world.
Lets not be a people, lets not be a church who stays silent. Lets be
a generation that goes beyond what seems possible. Let us not stop
the fight when people say no the first time, or the second, or when
others think we are out of our minds.
We have life. Let us not forget how
precious it is, how precious freedom is, how faithful He is.
Change does start with a response.
