 Blogging for you from the Michigan Policy Summit and having a wonderful time. My inner wonk is rejoicing and loving the progressive policies and concepts being discussed, many more blogs to come!
After a very thoughtful, intellectual, and clearly articulated Keynote Address by Dean Baker on Economic Policy, I thought it couldn't get any better. He spoke to us about the problems we face and the challenges to come, but also the great possibilities that present themselves in this time of economic crisis. The symbolism of listening to these ideas in the city of Detroit, of all places, is outstanding.
And then for a brief few moments I was taken out of my head, and felt my heart open so wide, as Grace Lee Boggs was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
The very woman who on Bill Moyers Journal spoke these words,
"The struggle we're dealing with these days, which, I think, is part of what the 60s represented, is how do we define our humanity?"
At 91, Grace Lee Boggs has been a part of almost every major movement in the United States in the last 75 years, including: Labor, Civil Rights, Black Power, Women's Rights and Environmental Justice. (Bill Moyers Journal)
Grace's eloquent words also spoke to the opportunities we have, not just as a country but the opportunity for humanity to transform and to create a new meaning for what is means to be human. Grace hopes that we don't just work for a higher standard of living, but for a higher quality of life for all people, greater connections and embrace of humanity.
Grace spoke of the opportunity to grow our souls. She spoke of soul as a verb, a way of acting in the world, not a substance within oneself.
How is the economic downturn and the crises you are facing helping to grow your soul?
Grace wrote in her recent article for the Michigan Citizen,
"Healing our society will require the patient work not primarily of judges but of artists, ministers, gardeners, workers, families, women, communities. It will require the creation of new forms of Governance, Work and Education that are much more participatory and democratic than those collapsing all around us. It will require enlarging our vision, decolonizing our imaginations."
Grace is calling on all of us to act, not just for sake of Detroit, or Michigan, or America, but for sake of humanity. I get the impression no one says "no" to Grace. |
