Revolution

​Revolution
They are saying something on SBS at the moment I find interesting. “Every revolution seems impossible, until it becomes inevitable.”
That had me thinking then about waves.  When they crash to the seashore there is an inevitability.  To me a wave is made up of many individual parts.  Its motion is such that when it meets the shore it curls over and inevitably breaks.  It is the makeup of the motion and the individual parts that lead to the conclusion.
It is funny I no sooner saw that then I saw the Ikea ad that talks about many little lights making a big one.  I reckon that is the way revolutions are.  Often it is many individually who combine with a single idea.  Eventually, enough people have the same idea and the wave crashes.
It is amazing.  Often people ask “what can I do?” or “what difference do I make?”  The answer it seems to me is “heaps.”  Alone I may be just a part of the swell, but combined with many heading in the same direction, I can be a force to be reckoned with.
No wonder a few people have had things to say about revolution over the years.  JFK said, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”  There have been a few peaceful revolutions in my time.  The Marco’s in the Philippines were ousted peacefully.  The velvet revolution in the former Czechoslovakia was peaceful.  But at the moment there are revolutions happening where peaceful revolution is made impossible.  Myanmar is an example to me.  Hong Kong to me is an example of the iron fist being too big and strong.
For a revolution to be successful it seems there must be an acceptance of inevitability from those in power.  Sometimes power is seized but it can only succeed if it has an overwhelming power behind it.  There must be motion for the wave to crash.  It seems Fred Hampton was right when he said, “You can kill a revolutionary, but you can never kill the revolution.”
There also needs to be a willingness to let go.  Mugabe to me could not let go.  He seemed to want to stay in power forever.  The generals in Myanmar do not want to let go.
For all that though it seems Fidel Castro was right in saying a revolution must have a plan of action.  Unless there is a plan of action, instead of a wave crashing there is only a messy swell.  In time it passes, and all remains unchanged.
I must admit though that for all that I remain a bit of a sceptic.  There are a great many causes I could be a part of.  Worthwhile aims are there to be perused with many others of like mind.  Yet all but one is merely re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.
 To me the last word belongs to Marianne Williamson.  “Personal transformation can and does have global effects. As we go, so goes the world, for the world is us. The revolution that will save the world is ultimately a personal one.”