Walking the Walk,

It has come to pass that quite often after my column appears in this paper, I receive phone calls and in-person praise for the social justice issues I write about. I hear things like “at least someone had the guts to say something” or “we think what you do is wonderful, thank you for speaking out”, and occasionally “you’re nothing but a commie pinko!”

It always amazes me that people think it takes courage and back bone to say what a lot of people are thinking. To speak out. To walk the walk. I realize that activism comes more naturally to some people than others, but I think we all have the potential to believe in change, in possibility, in the capacity to overcome even the most enduring and difficult problems we face as a society.

There is just cause to believe that everyone has the power to make a difference in our world, to take action against injustice, poverty and prejudice and work for the common good. Nelson Mandela, Elie Wiesel, the Dalai Lama, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King along with lesser known but equally relevant people made huge contributions to the lives we live today. We owe them to walk their walk.

There are many issues that I am certain you think about in your private time, maybe speak about at the dinner table, but then keep mum about because you don’t want to get up from the table and walk that walk. But we live in a world full of non-altruistic people who think first about themselves and are quick to impose their ways of life on us, control us, dictate to us, and we can’t walk away because we are too busy being sitting ducks.

There are many issues to speak up about. The war in Iraq, affordable housing, global warming, poverty (had to slip that one in) unemployment, education, affordable health care, safety on the internet, and taxation are just some of these issues that need more exposure. But every time we turn our heads away when we see injustice, or tolerate something that we know is wrong, or feel we are too busy to get involved or not educated enough to speak about an issue that bothers us, fear we will be chastised, or simply feel it is easier to ride the current of the status quo and mind your own business, you, as Robert Kennedy would say, strike a blow against freedom, decency, and justice.

There is a young man in Campbell River who believes in the power of small changes to make large impacts. Jordan Hollingsworth will be walking the walk on Sunday July 11th, in Campbell River, to honour the journey taken by so many people in our community who are poor for whatever reason and in whatever circumstance. There will be other young people standing up and walking against poverty, uphill battles, dangerous corners, slippery slopes, steep inclines and the occasional speed bump, just like people in poverty face daily in their travels. He is hoping for gridlock. He is hoping there will be so many people walking the walk that maybe something just might happen in our community to address what everyone talks about but no one does anything about. Bring yourself, bring your family, bring your signs, bring your ideas, bring your backbone, or just show up with a single step. Buy a t-shirt to cover the costs, enjoy some refreshments and let’s believe that if we follow what we are genuinely passionate about our destination will not be a place but rather a new way of looking at things.

For more information on Walking the Walk, contact Tucker Dinnes at Island J.A.D.E. Society, 250-830-1171. And remember what Martin Luther King Jr. said, “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamour of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people