Funda Oral wrote:
That's what i do here, although it is not heard so quickly. But i can
not get detached
so quickly from people's struggle.
I agree that self organizing, local resources, their lives and livelyhood
(as Harrison mentions)...their ability to create solutions are
important...very important.
I still think that we ( the ones having more to eat, a shelter,
health, space; who were lucky to get some education, travel, learn
appreciate, enyoy life, so on) can not say "them, their problems,
their struggle, their solutions".
I feel our responsibility is more then that.
As I have been following this and related threads lately I have found
that my thoughts keep being distracted by my feelings. I hope the
following adds something beyond providing me with space to reflect and
emote.
As a person of privilage raised by godless, working class parents of
principle I have always had a sense that when others are suffering it is
our problem, not theirs. As a Jew the principle of tikkun olam (healing
the world) is important to me. So I have always felt a responsibility
to leverage my gifts to address concerns of people "less fortunate" (as
my parents would put it) than myself.
One of the curses that came with this blessing was that I could never do
enough...there were too many problems needing my attention. The more I
worked on problems, tried to understand them, tried to solve them, the
more exhausted I got and the more isolated from myself I became.
It took me a long time to learn that there was a significant amount of
paternalism in my view of people "less fortunate" than me and their
challenges. Before I confronted this side of myself I worked on
community issues by leveraging my position, knowledge, skills, etc. to
lead people toward solutions my analysis concluded would be most
effective. Even after I realized that people frequently resist being
lead in that way I learned to use group dynamics and facilitation skills
to work with people so they might feel more "ownership" of the
solutions...but they were still my solutions. Eventually I began to
feel that I had become a skilled manipulator and questioned my work and
motives.
At some point I guess I began to hear what people were saying as more
than just grist for my mill. I began to notice that the solutions that
were most sustainable were built on the unique gifts of these "less
fortunate" people. Fortunately, at about the same time I also began to
learn about David Bohm's approach to dialogue, future search and open
space technology.
When I began appreciating the gifts of other people I found that a
number of things changed in my life and my work. I felt less
exhausted. I let go of the idea that it was all on me. I felt less
isoltated from myself and others. I made new friends. I saw more
poeple doing more things more effectively and finding their own ways to
do things. More opportunities came to me instead of me always going out
to look for them.
Ironically I realized that there was a part of my earlier, less healthy
life as a musician that should have revealed these truths sooner - the
jam session! I had been participating in self-organizing systems in my
youth without realizing it! So I also got more playful in my work and
in life...without having to let go of the spirit of tikkun olam.
I believe that learning about the principles of dialogue made me a more
authentic listener and, more importantly, made me realize how powerful
groups of listeners could be. After I got past the idea of OST as a
"tool" I realized that opening space for dialogue to occur in is an
underlying way of approaching the world and the work. Now, even when I
find myself in a situation where people are not ready to convene an open
space event I have "tools" (future search and others) that help begin to
open space in other ways.
I guess all this is to say that, for me, one of the things OST offers is
a way of engaging the paradoxes and polarities of privilage and
marginalization, taking action and creating space for others to take
action, moving slower to achieve results sooner, feeling passionate
concern for others and having a clear sense of self, feeling the despair
of others and in one's self while keeping a lightness of heart...
BTW, a few years ago I unpacked my drums and started playing in bands
again...jazz, blues, rock-n-roll. My current band, the Riverside Rats,
plays for free for organizations supporting causes we support and
donates to the proceeds of our other gigs to nonprofit organizations.
Chris Kloth, a.k.a. the Rat-a-tat Rat
*
*
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