Lots going on in the world. Always lots going on. But there’s a change in the air, can you feel it? There’s been a shift. Slight right now, just a breeze, but gaining momentum. Like butterfly wings ultimately causing a hurricane, it will be seismic one day, I hope. But standing right next to any significant change reside the naysayers. Those that don’t believe in the change, don’t believe the change will be effective, or believe the change will negatively impact them. They are fearful. They are small in number, but they are vocal, and they are driven. They vote and are willing to give their hard-earned dollars to those who they perceive as being more aligned with their beliefs, and desires, and fears. And anytime anyone protests about something they fear will infringe on their lives, they claim, loudly and vehemently, that this is not the time, or the place, to discuss, or debate, the issue.
Here’s the thing though. Protests are inconvenient. They are held in inconvenient places at inconvenient times. They are meant to be inconvenient, and always have been. It was inconvenient when civil rights marchers traipsed across bridges; sat at lunch counters reserved for whites only, or boycotted riding public buses, resulting in much needed civil rights laws and protections. It was inconvenient when students wore black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War, which eventually led to a massive movement, with scores of large and loud protests, lasting several years in duration, showing the frustration and anger over a war we all sensed we could not win. It was inconvenient when the LGBT community decided to fight back after a police raid on a gay bar, erupting in the Stonewall Riots, and beginning a movement that lives on today. It was inconvenient, in our very recent history, when football players took a knee during the National Anthem, in protest of the indiscriminate slaughter of young blacks at the hands of police. It was inconvenient when women marched out of frustration over abuse and inequality and told their “Me too” stories to the world. It was inconvenient when the Black Lives Matter protests began, with the alternative shouts of all lives matter, which missed the point in its entirety. Recently, after another mass shooting at a high school took 17 young, vibrant lives, is was deemed both inconvenient and ill-advised for students to protest gun violence. Not the time or the place. Too soon. Too reckless. Nothing can be done. Nothing will change. Bad guys will still get guns. Too bad, so sad, but we’ll say a prayer. Point being, it’s inconvenient. And now, we’ve had yet another school shooting. 10 lives snuffed out in a matter of minutes. And so, as inconvenient as it may be, let the protests continue. It is the inconvenience which makes the act of protest so darn effective.
You see, if you’re not inconvenienced, you don’t pay attention. These students, very much like the civil rights protesters of our not-so-distant past, have brought the issue of gun violence into our lives, our homes, our hearts. They have awakened the masses, and they have the potential to effect massive change because of that. It may be inconvenient to be detoured around marches. It may be inconvenient to have students up and walk out of school for 17 long minutes, but it is powerful, and now, finally, everyone is talking. That’s the start of the process anyway. The doing, well, that remains to be seen, but when it happens, it will be because of these students and their perseverance. The inconvenient truth is that well-orchestrated and choreographed protests can work and can change our world for the better. As to the people who claim it’s inconvenient, and not the time, nor the place? They are people filled with fear. They are insignificant in comparison, and any perceived inconvenience seems to me to be an inconvenience well-deserved. Change is gonna come, whether convenient or not.
~ jwb ~