The thing I was struck by when I was standing in front of Dr. King's ministry robes was the thought, "Wow, he was so small." The robes were little. King was not a giant. He was not some superman who was capable of anything more than any of the rest of us. He was just a guy who did the right thing when he had to, turning small acts or opportunities into lasting change.
So, if you think that the fight is too big or complicated, if you think that you can't do anything about it, maybe, like I was, you're just scared. I've had a lot of friends tell me lately, "Man, I wish I could do what you're doing, like just go on the road and do weird stuff. But I just have such and such responsibility and blah blah blah whatever.... fart." I just tell them, "Come on! Let's go. Buy a ticket!" Sure, you have to be a little crazy and stupid to do the things I do. And a lot of the time I'm totally scared about how I'm going to get along. But in a lot of ways it's easier than the way I used to live. I wrote you a book on how to start, so there's no reason you can't do it if you want to. You just have to leave everything you care about, give away all of your stuff, quit your job and relieve yourself of the fear of death. No biggie.
I joke. But seriously, it is possible. We can help. We can be the change that people are talking about, that people are hoping for. It doesn't take that long and it's not that hard. Look at me. I'm a drunk idiot with no common sense and no education who can't manage to hold down a job or handle a relationship because I feel like it isn't right for me to take more of my share when other people go without. American life, a life based on power and status and money, isn't right. I couldn't operate within the system. It didn't make sense to me. So I figure out a way to live that satisfies me. Sure, it makes some things harder, but whatever. I don't have anything else to do.
When I left my comfort zone and went out into the world, I was broken-hearted, I had no money and no plan whatsoever. Four months later, yesterday, I spent MLK day in Ebenezer Church in Atlanta. I went to the march. I did this not because I particularly wanted to, I'd much rather be at home with my wife, feet up, watching a Roseanne rerun. But I couldn't do that and we all have to do something. When I got to Atlanta, I didn't know why I ended up here, and I very nearly threw in the towel and crawled back home. Good thing for me there was no home to crawl back to because I am basically a coward with no power of my own. But I'm not alone.
Did you know that there are still lots of people who are scared or angry? And they are having a harder time than me for stupider reasons. There are still people in our country that are made to feel like second-class citizens, women who are afraid to walk down the street, minorities of color and religious faiths that are being harassed and mistreated. There are actually a lot of these people. This is still happening. I think that it's time for all of that to be over.
Why don't we do this: Let's distribute power equally. Let's live life in a way that we only take what we need, repay the world however we can, and give anything extra that we have to anyone else who needs it. I've been looking for a life where this is possible and I'm here to tell you, it is possible. I haven't made any money in months. I trade work for a bed. Yesterday, my friend Tim, who owns the house that I stay in, let me tool around and go to marches and meetings and generally wander around like an idiot because that's what I do. He knows I'm good for it. I'll do more work today.
I'm not saying that everyone needs to live like this. If you're good at owning houses and letting vagrants or writers or artists sleep there while they write stupid blogs (like Tim), then do that. (Tim has it figured out. He's awesome.) If you work in a bank, give everyone who comes in a no-interest loan. It's only money, it's not even a real thing. If you're a teacher, just keep doing what you're doing. Good job. If you work in a grocery store and someone doesn't have enough to buy bananas, give them some. Keep doing it until you get fired or the grocery store goes out of business. People will still grow these bananas and there will still be people who want to eat them. It won't be a big deal. If you have two shirts and your friend (or someone you don't know) doesn't have one, give one to him. There are enough shirts in the world for everyone to have one. I guarantee it. Once everyone has a shirt, and a house, and something to do with their day, and food to eat, we'll figure out what to do with all of the rest of the extra stuff. There will be extra stuff. We'll make the guy with three apples king for a day. Then he can eat them or give them away and then someone else can be king. But the king should not be some asshole who spends his whole day thinking about how to get more shit. This whole idea of giving the responsibilities of governing others to people who have already proved that they are only good at collecting as much stuff and power for themselves as they can... is crazy. These are not the people who should be making decisions. These are the people who should be slapped for being selfish.
Sure, I know that I kind of sound like the sinner who only goes to church on Christmas and then tells everyone how great Jesus is. I went to a protest and a rally on MLK day and now I think I have the solutions to all of our social problems. No, I don't. I just figured out what I can do to help out. I went to places that made me uncomfortable. Places where I was in the minority. I did this because I give a shit about people who (I perceive, wrongly) are different than me. I want to learn about them. I have the time and the energy, so I walked there, through west Atlanta for an hour to get there. I did not need a gun or money or friends to go with me. Then I sat quietly and listened. Then I talked to a few people. That's it, I was just there. All I'm saying is, I didn't do very much. I did a little thing to help, it wasn't hard, and if I can do it, anyone can do it. And it didn't even feel like as much as I could be doing. I can do more.
Not everyone needs to do it like this, and I realize that not everyone can. But I can and I did. I did it with the right motivation. That's all. Some people have more means and can do even bigger things that are of greater good. That's great, we should do that too. Do what you do because it is the right thing to do. Then, tomorrow, maybe we can do something a little bigger. And we should because if anyone still feels powerless, then things are messed up and need to be fixed. This should be our only concern. We need to make sure that everyone knows that we are all in this together. It's going to take a lot of little people who aren't capable of much, working together, to make big things happen.
So, you know, let's get going. I'll start if you want.
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