Finding Hope

"It is necessary that the weakness of the powerless is transformed into a force capable of announcing justice. For this to happen, a total denouncement of fatalism is necessary. We are transformative beings and not beings for accommodation." - Paulo Freire

I have spent the last eight months concentrating my studies on hope in it's broadest sense. This is a hope that is determined and intentional, that goes beyond any box and elevates to the highest levels. I wanted to change my life, and hope became the clearest path to take.

Growing up in circumstances that seemed struggling, as a young adult I became seduced by cynicism. It's allure was the cool, suave nature that my peers seemed to radiate, and it's staying power was the indifference it showed towards the situations I was in. Whether I was struggling or celebrating, confused or concrete, cynicism was always there, waiting easily to temper the situation. The seduction to cynicism was it's fatalism, which couched itself deeply in my oppressed psyche, constantly defeating my attempts at living well.

It seems that hope is a stronger force though.

With kids packed in the car and 1000s of miles of road unfurling before us, I never consciously understood my parents' motivations when I was a kid - but who does? Parents, in their infinite possibilities, seem to intuitively shroud their decision-making from their children, and my parents were no different. For all the challenges they faced, they trouped onward. Today, I attribute that progress to their hope. While it may have been unconscious at times, there were many times when it came sounding out loud, chasing down the potential disregard of poverty, homelessness, and mental disease.

Today, after a career of promoting anti-fatalism, I am firmly committing myself to, "a total denouncement of fatalism." I will not accommodate fatalism anymore, and I have learned to reject cynicism. My own life is becoming my playground for transformative action, and I want to take everyone with me.

How about you? Want to find hope?

Critical Self-Awareness

The roots of all successful action are based in critical self-awareness. I've learned this lesson over and over, conducting (yet another) mid-course correction because a program, project, or activity didn't work. Standing in the middle of a car crash of an activity, it can be easy for me to blame all the external factors around me; however, I've never come across a successful solution that didn't involve taking a long, hard look at myself. That position always gives me new insights that I can actually do something about?

This is true in my personal and professional lives. Looking at the (relatively few, wink, wink) times there have been messed up moments in my life at home or in relationships, there have been more than a few external factors I blame things on. The cat, old textbooks, ex-girlfriends, the mailman, bad hard drives, shoddy craftsmanship... There are a lot of things to blame my problems on! However, I can't change those things- they have to change themselves. I can change me through self-examination, reflection, and supportive self-talk.

I believe this is the heart of Gandhi's idiom, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." Gandhi's followers couldn't compel the British Empire to change by words alone; they literally began making their own clothes in order to establish Indian self-reliance. They didn't arrive at this type of radical self-ownership by blaming and finger-pointing. Instead, they took a long hard look at themselves.

In this same way, if we change ourselves we can change the world. The way to begin is through critical self-awareness.


-- This is Adam Fletcher's blog originally posted at http://www.YoungerWorld.org. For more see http://www.bicyclingfish.com

"Take Action" Publications

In 2008 and 2009 I consulted Capstone Press on a series of publications. The series, called Take Action!, was written by four different authors for middle school students, and is marketed to libraries across the country.

You can find free online previews on Google Books, and order the publications from Capstone Press.

Essential Questions in Youth Involvement

I'm often asked for answers by folks who want to know exactly what to do. As many of my readers know, I don't really give answers though. Instead, I'm a critical examiner, constantly asking questions and deconstructing answers that have been given.

Following are some essential questions I ask about youth involvement.

Step 1: Identify Why Youth Involvement

• Have youth identified if they want to be meaningfully involved? If so, why do youth want to be meaningfully involved? If not, why not?
• Have adults identified why they want to meaningfully involve youth ? If so, why do adults want youth to be meaningfully involved? If not, why not?
• Is meaningful youth involvement seen as a learning tool? Is it being utilized as a pathway for youth to successfully meet their goals in life?

 

Step 2: Identify HOW Youth Will Be Involvement

• What specific duties/tasks/assignments will youth have?
• How will adults be involved?
• How does meaningful youth involvement relate to the community at large?
• How does meaningful youth involvement relate to formal organization or community activities?

Step 3: Figure out WHO Will Be Involved

• Is the activity for traditionally or non-traditionally involved youth? If it is for non-traditionally involved youth, how will their involvement be ensured? How will it be sustained?
• Is there equal representation from across the organization/group/community of youth targeted?

Step 4: Name WHAT Youth Will Be Involved In

• Have clear goals or a distinct purpose been identified for youth to be meaningfully involved in?
• Are there parameters for youth? Do they have complete autonomy, or are the roles for youth clearly defined ahead of their involvement?
• Is there a distinct plan for educating, reflecting and assessing youth involvement?

Step 5: Identify WHEN Youth Involvement Will Happen

• Is the activity in-class, during a pre-existing program time, during the school day, right after school, in the evening, on the weekends, or during a school break?
• What accommodations have been made in order to acknowledge the specific nuances of youth schedules, i.e. homework, transportation, lost program time, etc?
• How often will meaningful involvement occur within the youth's life as a youth? During one day? Throughout a week? In a quarter or semester? Throughout one school year? Beyond?

Step 6: Say WHERE Youth Will Be Involved

• Are youth meaningfully involved in their local community in other places?
• Who controls the environments where meaningful youth involvement will occur? How do they affect meaningful youth involvement?
• Do youth have opportunities to become meaningfully involved throughout their communities in other ways? Why or why not? How?

 

These are some of the essential questions. What else would YOU ask?

The Myth of Indebtedness

Somewhere along the way a meme grabbed a hold of society that said, "Children are the future." Musicians sing about it, governments unite around it, charities raised money off it, and taxpayers shouldered the burdens of it.

However, this kind of chronic debt weighed heavy on a lot of peoples' shoulders. The childless, the retired, and the young themselves saw hypocrisy at having to pay for "other peoples'" kids. Parents themselves stopped seeing the benefits of keeping an eye on the neighborhood's kids, because what were they going to get out of that arrangement anyway?

Unfortunately, this new reality, one where we're not responsible for our children, is mainstream now. It is the new norm. Children and youth today are being raised to believe in a type of fascist libertarianism, cloaked in veils of indifference and apathy, all the while actively subjected to the constant abuse of very active age discrimination.

The myth of indebtedness is one that is perpetuated today, to the continued misfortune of young people today. Just below the current belief, it lies in wait waiting to further prop up adultism, making itself seen in policy, culture, and personal beliefs throughout our society.

This myth goes far beyond our young people, too: It permeates our thinking about the environment, the economy, all of education, social services, and so much more. It weighs the burden of noblesse oblige around our necks like a yoke, forcing us to haul the weight of debt from generation to generation without ever acknowledging it's cost or outcomes.

The consequences of this framework of belief range from subtle resentment and cynicism to a type of wide-spread Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, thrust heavily upon succeeding generations in order to ensure the continuing prevalence of guilt, dysfunction, and inability on everyone who might have the opportunity to throw off these shackles.

One lesson of systems thinking is that every system is designed perfectly to ensure the outcomes it gets. Every single one. So what is the function of indebtedness, and how can we displace that appropriately?