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If you look at the landscape of your life and find it appalling, unchanged, when those around you, or within your view seem to be experiencing the rewards of their efforts…the obvious response is to ask oneself why it continues to satisfy so much that one exert no effort toward the change that so many speak of.
A woman escorted by a Bellingham officer, approached protestors who obstructed railroad tracks just south of Heritage park, in Bellingham, Washington, where Occupy Bellingham holds ground in the name of solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. The officer stated that he wanted protestors to see what they were doing. He then waved his hand from the woman to those standing just on the tracks and stepped back. She proceeded to inform the protestors that the only people they were hurting was her.
This Bellingham small business owner was thinking about the short term… her own well being. It’s not an unfair thing, as we may all think of ourselves first, and at the expense of others. The moment for Occupy Bellingham to put out the reality of the situation passed, into abject failure. Oh, the protest itself is being hailed as a ‘success’. And, for all intents and purposes, as a protest, the action was very useful in gaining its moment in the sun, the officers stymied by the locks and the trains sitting on the tracks. There was even a moment when a reporter in the conservative ‘newspaper’ in Bellingham repeated that the occupy hadn’t really made an impact on the shutdown as the trains were already scheduled for a ‘pause’ while some tracks were repaired. It’s always good when the existing voices of the 1% and their gatekeepers start openly giving energy to ‘sluffing’ off the opposition. However, this small business owner gained the day.
She was able to voice those concerns which are not always addressed in the ‘over’ excitement of a rally or march, and the adrenaline of an action like the train shutdown. Not one occupier was able to give back what she deserved. Some truth. In that, the occupy failed. Good thing the occupy is an open environment where all are evenly given the platform to educate others to the reality of the ‘99%’. And there in lay the twist.
The 99% is a fair enough representation of the overall numerical reality of our financial environment. However, it also fails in offering truth to who we are as a nation of diverse people and the hold the elite have on the resources which the ‘99%’ require, are indeed, guaranteed. So, did our small business woman bring any truth at all to that moment on the tracks? Truth, … yes, hers. Facts, no, those she offered are the twisted facts of yet another 99%’er in full defense mode to maintain a lifestyle in the shadow of big business. She opted to offer the point of view of the ‘wanna-be’s’. And here is where I part company with Occupy as we have come to know it.
No one responded on the tracks that Monday afternoon when our small business neighbor opted to take care of herself above all others. No one reminded her that one afternoon of an occupy action was not going to break her. No one stated that the wealthy takeover of resources in this county, this state, this nation, will require some sacrifice on behalf of the whole. No one held her accountable for the selfish small business thinking she eventually screamed into the air on the tracks, and that the officer who escorted her there, had done his job in dividing his community further. No one was prepared for the moment this law enforcement officer, this member of the 99%, brought this small business woman into the fray to challenge the Occupy on its ‘rights’. So the message of all for one and one for all took yet another hit. Can’t count that a success, but, the locks worked to give us time to rectify this.
BSNF got their trains moving, more than likely didn’t lose a great deal of money, well, not enough to make us a note worthy opponent here in Bellingham. This small business woman gained a few hand claps as businesses around Bellingham cross themselves every night that Occupy Bellingham is ‘still’ putting together its ‘presence’ here in a town where the elite have a hell of a foothold on how things are and will be. But, there is that other element that will be overlooked or forgotten as unity grows, with difficulty, in the occupy.
Those who came to make their message central on Dec. 12th made their message central on Dec. 12th. They did it as Occupy supported by other groups in the community. Occupy Bellingham held the moment so well that other Occupy’s showed up to support them. Viewers on the livestreams and Ustream did what viewers.. Witnesses, do. They supported the courage it takes to make change. They honored the held breath, the beating heart, the adrenaline that is required to make an effort. Occupy Bellingham stepped into the zone of civil disobedience to be heard on something so important, that small businesses are preparing their argument and actually standing as defenders of the elite. And, law enforcement manifested its support of the 1% and their defenders by eliciting division among the people they are sworn to serve.
Occupy Bellingham may have missed its moment to respond to this woman of business and her rant about what she was losing, however, they did something much more important. This group of people in what many consider a small town, stepped up, faced their fears and acted in a manner that might bring harm to them. They did this in the spirit of unity, in the spirit of care for others. They said loudly in their actions that alone we are lost, but together… when we act for others… change can begin.
Occupy our survival.
