Warning: Undefined array key "insert" in /sites/dev.grateful.org/files/wp-content/plugins/wp-word-count/public/class-wpwc-public.php on line 123
We need movements rooted in love right now, movements powered not by difference and exclusion and punishment, but by common ground, compassion, humility, healthy boundaries, patience and healing.
“At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love.”
~ Ernesto Che Guevara
adrienne and Autumn offer a workshop at the Wave Trauma Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Photo by Kate McCabe
I’m spending this Valentine’s Day leading visionary fiction workshops with my sister Autumn in Northern Ireland. Inspired by Octavia’s Brood — the anthology of speculative fiction stories from social justice movements that I co-edited — the workshops focus on collective storytelling based on contemporary political and social issues.
As I listen to the emerging stories, I hear how close conflict and heartache are to the surface here in Northern Ireland, and how aware people still are of difference in each encounter.
I am reminded of South Africa, Brazil, Egypt, and of course, the U.S. Each of these places has had moments, led and pushed by revolutionaries, where it seemed they were evolving beyond a greed-centered society. And each one has faced the long challenges of governance, the depths of corruption, the stronghold of false supremacies, the resilience of greed and competition. In this place, within that global context, I am learning a lot about love:
Love is boundaries, not borders. Boundaries give us room to recover from harm, to realize what we must let go of in order to move forward, to act from real agency. But boundaries are not borders — walls of stone manned by armed guards, constructed by fear, never to be crossed. Borders perpetuate a myth of separation that is not true to how resources or life flow on our planet.
Love is distinction, not fraction. It is a sign of life, to have distinction, difference, diversity at the level of biology, identity and philosophy. But where we begin to identify as only one or two portions of ourselves — our skin, religion, place of birth, sex, ability — we participate in the lie that difference makes us less than whole. These aspects of identity are crucial to understanding history and current conditions. But to truly love ourselves whole means we remember our primary nature as humans in relationship to a living world.
Love is the humility it takes to listen without needing to correct, to consider at all times that we might be wrong, or at least ignorant.
Love leaves no room to hide what we’ve done, who we are — revolutionary love wants to face it all, intact, and to grow, together. Love can’t be used to destroy people, but it can teach us the behaviors we must stop if we want to grow. Love helps us fortify our inner and interdependent strength without constructing moats around our authentic selves.
Love is truth, not projection. Our enemy is never really other people, because with a few clinical exceptions, other people are not motivated by a pure desire to do evil, no matter how abhorrent their behavior. Our enemy is the common practice of letting trauma and loneliness fester into violent worldviews, greed, hatred, defensive superiority and knee-jerk othering. Love brings us through the illusions we project at and onto each other, into the places where we are vulnerable, where we grieve, where we’re afraid.
The author at Slieve Gullion, Northern Ireland. Photo by Kate McCabe
We need movements rooted in love right now, movements powered not by difference and exclusion and punishment, but by common ground, compassion, humility, healthy boundaries, patience and healing.
Love allows us to flow together toward a shared future.
A song comes on the radio as we travel across the stunning, contested landscape of Northern Ireland. It speaks to this revolutionary love we need: “Love changes, changes everything.”
This is a lovely post. Unfortunately it is marred by the opening quote from Ernesto “Che” Guevara.
In 1959, Fidel Castro, his brother Raúl, and Ernesto “Che” Guevara manifested themselves in Cuba. My then 71-year-old paternal grandfather, who had come alone and penniless to Cuba at the age of twelve, was soon dispossessed of what he had accumulated over a span of sixty years.
These “Comrades” then threatened my father with execution, because he did not endorse their ideology, and drove us into exile along with a million others. We were very middle class; my father worked three jobs and my mother had a job as well. My parents, my younger brother and I lived in a rented house with my maternal grandparents and aunt, who also had a job. The house was surveilled by “comrades” in the Committee for the Defense of The Revolution who lived across the street from us. This was typical of each and every block in the country.
“Comrade” Che Guevara was in charge of revolutionary tribunals that served as prosecutors, judges, juries, jailers, executioners. He mercilessly sent thousands to prison and executed innocents by the hundreds in an expedient move to rid the country of those who had views contrary to his own.
It is important to note that those actions by the “comrades” occurred from the start of their coming to power in 1959, well ahead of the April 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. My family came to the US in August of that year.
Some even innocently elevate Che to the pantheon of heroes, unknowing of his heinous past.
I hope that in the interest of charity, truth and justice you expunge any reference to Ernesto “Che” Guevara from this post and organization. The words you attribute to him do not match the hate and cruelty he brought to Cuba.
Manuel, thank you for taking the time to respond with so much heart and honesty, and for so openly sharing your experience. We are heartbroken to hear of your family’s painful story, and we sincerely apologize for any harm that the Che Guevara quote has caused. The words we shared here are part of the original essay itself, but you have our commitment that we will heed your request going forward. We invite you to reach out to us directly if continued dialogue about this would be welcome; we value you as a member of the gratefulness community.
Thank you again. On behalf of the Gratefulness Team, Rose
Thanks for replying Rose. I am going to stop contributing to your organization unless the story “This Valentine’s Day, Let’s Choose Love Over Borders” is taken down by tomorrow morning. It is wrong to attribute high ideals to Guevara, a murderer who has caused much pain and harm to human beings; I have higher expectations from Gratitude.org. Peace.
Hello Manuel. Again, on behalf of our Team, I am sorry that the author’s use of the quote above her essay has caused you understandable distress. Permission to reprint this moving essay was granted for the full piece, and that is what you see shared here. I want to reiterate that we have heard your concerns, have been impacted by them, and will heed them going forward. You have engaged with – and illuminated – us, and that matters. That said, we feel that the message of the essay has an important, continuing place on our site and in this moment and so we will not be taking it down. If you want to communicate directly with me, you can find my contact info under About > Our Staff & Board. Thank you. And peace – yes – peace for all. Kristi Nelson, Executive Director
Your decision is inconsistent with the message of Jesus. We are unsubscribing from this website.
Boundaries – not borders! What a profound lesson we so desperately need in a world where we’ve chosen to live in our own walled fortresses listening to the deceptive echoes bouncing around inside our self-constructed silos.
This is so powerful AND empowering for those who belong to a community of compassion and healing. and for those who wish join: “We need movements rooted in love right now, movements powered not by difference and exclusion and punishment, but by common ground, compassion, humility, healthy boundaries, patience and healing.”
Thank you for this beautiful invitation to love. You had me at “At the risk of seeming ridiculous…”