Below is a photograph of hands taken by my Pete at a Greenbelt workshop where I was Artist in Residence. I was drawing what was happening, then later, I digitally altered the image (Vector) to make it concise. It speaks of peaceful conversation as there are no hands raised in opposition to others. It speaks of agency as people are close to each other and relaxed about it; they all made a personal choice to be there without coercion. It speaks of acceptance, as there are multiple hues of skin. It speaks of collaboration, as those whose hands are resting on a shared surface of shared documents, seem to be doing something together.
It’s a nice image. Because I digitised it, it looks a little like an illustration of what could potentially be possible in some part of the world at some time in the future. It looks like I made it up.
I didn’t. The image below it is Pete’s photo of my witnessing the peaceful conversation between people with agency who accepted each other. They were agreeing together about how to include people who felt no agency, no acceptance, no peace. The apparent imagined picture is real.
I stress the reality of this because, though Greenbelt is a moment outside of other moments and nothing like the battlefields of the countries we can name, there are real conversations as I write this and as you read this. People are taking their time to use their agency for those who have had theirs stripped from them. People are not sitting idly by while other people are maimed, starved or killed. People are not twiddling thumbs while our planet gasps. Our planet is not idle about repairing itself and life on it. Media is filled with protests across the planet for people and earth. Some media is filled with reportage of formal acts and judgements which curtail the greed and overreach of leaders. Not all people are focussed on peace and repair, of course. But so many are.
If you are one of the actors for renewal wherever you are, Bless you. Take heart. If you support those actors, Bless you. You are needed. If you wish you could do something and have no idea what, sit awhile, breathe, listen. You’ll find that small thing. It could be something like choosing to hope. Adopting hope will change the way you have your next conversation. Things are stirring. Feel it.