Radical

Radical is defined as getting to the root of the matter. If our actions are going to be effective, they need to go to the root of our problems. We have plenty of solu-tions that simply place a band-aid on the problem. Even though working in that type of solution may make you feel good, it may not be a genuine solution in the long run. For example, if we keep chipping away at making corporations accountable, we might feel good about our efforts. But is hitting our head against a stone wall that is inher-ently non-budgeable effective? The better solution, the more radical one would be to understand the legal grounds corporations have in doing their plundering. Unfortu-nately they are acting as "persons" and are given the same rights as "persons." And they are getting away with murder. Yet they are not persons. And, if and when we can legally challenge this root cause of so much misery in the world, then all of our efforts can go toward genuine solutions.

This is just one example. Regarding the legality of corporate rule, there are many books and websites dedicated to the challenge to corporate power. Let’s stop banging our heads against the wall and learn to be more effective with our activism and our time.

Solutions

Solutions is a vital element in the broad progressive movement. If all we did was focus on the problems without emphasizing the solutions, our energy will get derailed and we’ll burn out. But I sense there is an inherent irony in this. If we speak about solutions, it can invigorate our imaginations and fuel our hope. So then why do most people prefer to speak about the problems? Do we prefer to complain? Do we get more empathy if we continue to bitch and whine? When a solution comes up in a discussion, what happens? Do people listen and feel a sense of responsibility? Of course, individual responsibility comes before action. But often people will prefer to complain than to feel the responsibility. I don’t think we can get anyone to act if they don’t genuinely feel and embody the responsibility. This probably is the reason why so many activists have strong personal feelings that motivated them into their respective cause. Without that, action won’t happen, or if it does it will be short lived, based on some ungrounded obligation. A recipe for burnout.

Radical Solutions are grounded, based on real events, real people, real models. The motivations might have come from visions and imaginations but actvists have worked diligently to implement these vi-sions into the real world.

Inspiring

The root of Inspiring means "with spirit" and as we know, to inspire is to awaken within us an imagination and a love energy, a sense that goodness can prevail. Some people’s lives are an inspiration for millions of others. We "get" inspired by them, we get uplifted to a realm of possibility, that we too could live an inspired life as well. But inspiration is short lived. It’s a momentary high. Like during the viewing of a film. We can get excited and inspired by an act of altruism, for example, but how long does it last? It may fade even before we leave the theater. I know for me this happens routinely. It reminds me of Edison’s obser-vation that "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration."

Hope

Hope is another word that has been abused and manipulated. It was Mr. Revlon, cre-ator of Revlon products, who admitted that

he was in the business of "selling hope to millions of women." Many spiritual teach-ers are in the business of selling hope to seekers wishing to become "enlightened." Even academic professors are selling hope, that their students can even get a decent-paying job after they graduate. We need to see how hope is abused and how it an benefit us.

When I finally accepted that the name "HopeDance was going to be the title of what I expected to be a short-lived publica-tion experiment, I had always thought of it personally as my peculiar dance with despair and hope (and I never would have imagined that some people think it has something to do with the Hopis or literally with dancing).

To hope for world peace is ridiculous, if I may say so. It’s fluff, meaningless. The term is used so sloppily these days that sometimes I think I did a disfavor by using it in the title. People may even think I’m a peddler of hope! God knows why.

When I use the word, which usually is rare, it implies the incredible struggle that had gone on before, the amazing depth of feeling and commitment and passion to a cause. It is that, which gives me hope. When I see real live human beings who have molded their lives to the change they seek to see, I see hope. Hope that it can be done again and again.

That is why the four words need to be together; singly they can be impotent. Perhaps like us. Radical Solutions Inspiring Hope.