This week, I have been thinking about the force of change in our world. One of my favorite writers, Octavia Butler has something to say about the immutable force of change in this world. In her “Parable” series, Butler elevates the inevitability of change to religion. She suggests that change is the only constant that you can count on and suggests that trying to resist change is like trying to resist gravity – instead we must learn to shape and direct change.
I like to say that change can happen to you or with you.
I think of this a lot at work because the folks I work with are poor and living on the edges of society. Most often the relentless march of change is likely to mow them down because of their relative lack of resources. In this world, we all live by structures that we aren’t in direct control of and all we can do is find ways to adapt to the changes that they create. The less insulated one is in life, the harder it is. Every day at work, I see folks wrestling with changes that they don’t have a lot of control over. Changes in food stamp benefits, a stolen phone, inconsistent medical care, loss of small vestiges of safety, loss of a loved one…..
My community lives closely with change
However, in our community we work together to direct that change into something helpful. Jobs, homes, love, friendship, art, community. What I see in my clients-my community, is not just survival but beautiful adaptation, resilience and love. My cover photo shows our Tuesday artist cooperative full of folks choosing to create beauty in the midst of pain, choosing spend time in fellowship instead of alone, choosing to embrace change in their lives and direct it towards connection and love. My community moves with the waves instead of trying to break them or being broken by them. This is what we all should aspire to, this is a great thing to admire.
In Octavia Butler’s world of her parable series, the world as we know it has ended. Survivors can embrace change and move with it or die longing for a bygone age. Her heroes adapt and thrive…and so do mine
The Bham Commons 