This is what you must remind yourself on the dark days

by Will Potter on February 15, 2015

in Activism & Activists' Response,News

Syncrude upgrader. Alberta Tar Sands. 2010.Global Chorus is a new book with short writings from a long list of thinkers and leaders, including Jane Goodall, Maya Angelou, and Nelson Mandela. There’s also contributions from lesser-known folks like me. I was asked to write about confronting the growing ecological crisis and the political repression that has accompanied it.

Here’s an excerpt:

“I have been struggling to write something about hope and perseverance in this space, because today, like many days, the weight of the challenge ahead of us makes me feel quite dark.

It strikes me, though, that the greatest danger of that darkness is that we always convince ourselves that it is unique to us, and we are experiencing it alone.

Far from it.

Whatever doubts and despair you may feel as you read these passages and engage with the state of our culture and our planet, know this: you are not the only one feeling it. I am here. So are millions more. I say this not so we can take solace in each other’s despair, but because I think there is an untapped power in coming together and acknowledging that we are all, to varying degrees, stumbling along in this fight against dark days.

Our path forward must involve a concrete response to unsustainable lifestyles and an economic system driven by greed, for together they have created a culture of death. In order to do that, we are going to have to remind ourselves and each other of something whenever we feel that darkness begin to creep: We are not alone.”

– Will Potter

You can get the book on Amazon and also from the publisher, Rocky Mountain Books.

[Photo by Garth Lenz]

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