Week 4 – Intro to the Roadmap

Hi everyone,

I’m sorry I haven’t been more active on these forums, but I’ve loved reading all your ideas on the roadmap. Comprehensive strategic planning is something I’ve struggled with and felt overwhelmed by, and I don’t think we’ll ever succeed without it. So I very much appreciate having this resource.

It’s difficult to place myself in one area, mainly because it’s hard NOT to be in the others. But I’ve realized that part of committing myself to a central focus involves trusting others. If I’m in this alone, I have to be everywhere. How can I not devote myself to food justice, or the environment, or economic reform if I am solely responsible for bringing into being the world I wish to see, in its entirety? But if I consider myself part of a vibrant, active, committed community, I can focus my attention wherever I can make the most impact while knowing that my contributions are connected to advances being made in all the other sectors. I can trust that together we will make huge changes by taking effective actions that knit into a collective cultural/social overhaul, and that even if I am not directly working in the sphere of, say, climate protection, we can still solve the issue together.

I think that my place in the roadmap has a lot to do with my personality. I have never been great at negotiating, or standing in front of a huge crowd, or orchestrating a million moving parts. But I love people, and talking to people, and doing whatever I can to help and support them in the moment. I’m working on the Person Power step of the roadmap right now as I’m struggling to development my own potential to work for nonviolent change and train myself in living a life I can be proud of and fulfilled by, and I think that how I’ve grappled with my own experiences and self has led me to a desperate need to support others in their own journeys. Right now, I’m getting my Masters in religion in the hope of going into interfaith dialogue and what I suppose might be called New Story creation. I work for an organization called Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries, an interfaith nonprofit, and we run the Interfaith Youth Initiative every summer. IFYI is a retreat for teenagers and young adults dedicated to interfaith exchange, service and social justice work, and building the Beloved Community. I personally had a terribly alienating teenage experience, and I’m watching these young people go through the same pain and loneliness. Somehow, things seem to be getting even worse for them; compassion, spirituality, concern for the world–all of these are being more and more marginalized. And yet there are still teenagers who are willing to stand up for these ideals, even if it means social ridicule and exclusion. Trust me, these kids are going to change the planet–but only if they have a chance to realize how amazing they are, how needed. We who have walked in their shoes and survived can support them in becoming full-fledged people, a process that is being increasingly stunted by corporate media and dominant cultural influences. And we can help them become agents for change, new inductees in the movement that will revolutionize every sphere of change on the roadmap.

I’m not sure yet what my path will be in practical terms, but I intend for it center on educating youth in the New Story, helping them actively experience the New Story, supporting them in reaching their full potential as human beings, and hopefully bringing some peace/pluralism education and training into the mix, as well. It’s just a dream right now, but I would be so honored if it became a reality. These kids are just that awesome.