Honorary Planetary Citizen of the Month

Acting locally allows us to be inside the movement and flow of the system. Changes in small places affect the global system, not through instrumentalism, but because every small system participates in an unbroken wholeness. We never know how our small activities will affect others though the invisible fabric of our connectedness. In this exquisitely connected world, it's never a question of 'critical mass.' It's always about critical connections.

There's the common metaphor of the lotus coming up out of the muck. The city of Detroit, in Michigan, has been looked upon by some to be a failure, a wasteland. Out of such a place though, one can often find people ripe and ready for change, those who are fed up with the mess, and willing to do something about it. Out of despairing circumstances, Grace Lee Boggs brings a message of Hope.

Born in the early 20th century, she has spent her long life in the thick of the people's struggles. Writing, speaking, organizing, rebuilding, inspiring those around her, she has lived an exemplary life for all of us to learn from.

I was privileged to participate in the great humanizing movements of the last century, but I can't recall a time when the issues were so basic, so interconnected.

What makes her extraordinary is her ability to change with the times, her history being a story of adaptation and evolution to meet the challenges at hand. She has never gotten stuck. Whether is was labor issues, women's rights, pro-peace movements, education, or civil rights, her ability to reinvent herself according to the needs of the moment is one of the main ingredients in her recipe.

I recently made a speech called, 'We Are All Works in Progress.' I love that concept of works in progress. I'm very fortunate that I have experienced sixty years of activism, and can see the progress that I have and have not made! I'm not sure why I was fortunate enough to be able to change and to keep changing as reality has changed.

For her, participation is the key, and it is us that need to make the personal changes. From her own words, let her life speak.

We can begin by doing small things at the local level, like planting community gardens or looking out for our neighbors. That is how change takes place in living systems, not from above but from within, from many local actions occurring simultaneously.

Acting locally allows us to be inside the movement and flow of the system. Changes in small places affect the global system, not through instrumentalism, but because every small system participates in an unbroken wholeness. We never know how our small activities will affect others though the invisible fabric of our connectedness. In this exquisitely connected world, it's never a question of 'critical mass.' It's always about critical connections.

Once we began thinking about what constitutes a revolution, there was still the question of how you bring it about. How do people begin embracing new values, creating the new infrastructure, and practicing the new relationships that are necessary for revolutionary social change?

You have to believe that what you do has meaning because it creates something that previously did not exist, and was not known or even thought about.

People are aware that they cannot continue in the same old way but are immobilized because they cannot imagine an alternative. We need a vision that recognizes that we are at one of the great turning points in human history when the survival of our planet and the restoration of our humanity require a great sea change in our ecological, economic, political, and spiritual values.

We, at Global Community Communications Alliance honor you Grace, for your selfless life of devotion to bettering our world. Many, many lives have been touched and your inspiration will continue to guide the future generations. God Bless you.

Check out:

www.boggscenter.org

her autobiography: Living for Change