Drip…drip…drip… about a gentle drizzle

A couple of weeks ago I received a letter from one of my friends and I’m still deeply confused by the words she used there. Her answer to my questions about poverty and social injustice was: “In my opinion I have the moral right to ignore that people die due to starvation”. I still can’t believe that I read these words and, what is more, I can’t stop thinking about them. They made me sick as I deeply disagree with this. Obviously many times I think that I can’t change the World as I’m powerless and nothing depends on me. Obviously many times I blindly follow a simple excuse: “what can we do” and I focus on my life, my reality, me. Fortunately, when I start to be selfish someone reminds me how lucky I am having everything I have, someone shows me that even if we have nothing to give we still have something to share with others: our compassion, our time and ourselves. When I start to believe that I’m unable to do anything someone says the words of “Grace”.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

How many of you know how this hymn was created? John Newton wrote the words during a storm on Atlantic, when he was engaged in the Atlantic Slave Trade.  This practice was finally abolished in Britain in 1807. It couldn’t be done if one man - William Wilberforce – had thought one day: “I have a moral right to ignore…” but fortunately “his morality” didn’t give him this right…

William Wilberforce’s battle for the Slave Trade Act is shown beautifully in the “Amazing Grace” film. It tells the story about the passion and compassion, believing not only in God but, the first of all, in goodness and humanity. You will finish watching this film in tears… but also with a deep belief that you can see…

John Newton: "I once was blind but now I see". Didn't I write that?

William Wilberforce:  Yes, you did.

John Newton: Now at last it's true.

Do you really think that you have any "moral right" to ignore…? If you see you can’t stay indifferent… you have to make a difference “with gentle drizzle, not storms. Drip. Drip. Drip”. 

Look around. Think. Act.

It DOES matter!

On Saturday I was lucky enough to see an exhibition „Music and Liberation” in one of the independent galleries – Space Station Sixty-Five in London. It was the last day of this exposition so I was more than happy that I had a chance to go there and learn more about women’s liberation music-making in the UK in the 70s and 80s.

The exhibition showed how feminists used music as an activist tool to fight with the social and political system regarding stereotypes of women’s social roles, which were mostly based on being a housewife. For me, a person behind the Iron Curtain, this piece of the British history was very interesting. In Poland during this time people, regardless of their gender, fought with communism, therefore this particular kind of movement wasn’t very popular there.

Different kinds of exhibits from the private collections were showcased in the Space Station Sixty-Five, these included the posters, songbooks, t-shirts, instruments, books, notes, diaries, pictures, fliers, button badges and of course the music which was played. It was an unique event, which gave me an opportunity to touch the piece of history which let us – women – be at the stage we are now.

Many times we completely forget that we can live, work and enjoy our lives only because somebody fought for these before. Without this kind of movement, women could still only sing “The lament of housewives”. It is the same with regards to every single part of our lives, including the human, worker or children’s rights.

In all decades and centuries a lot of activists struggled against the reality to create better lives for them, their children, their loved ones, and for humans generally. The system or even other members of the public, who didn’t see and understand the sense of these fights tried to stop or ban them, but the fighters were undeterred. They heard thousands of times: “just give it up; it doesn’t matter as you are unable to change anything!” And maybe they suffered too much but it was worthy enough as they built better conditions for us.

Therefore, even if we feel sometimes that we are powerless, we shouldn’t give our beliefs up as it does matter if we struggle for them or not. Even if our actions aren’t spectacular and don’t make any difference now, they create the future.

I read a story once. It was about a man who walked on the seaside during a low tide and threw jellyfish, which were lying on the sea shore, into the water. He met another man who doubtfully looked at him and said: “Man, what are you doing? There are thousands of jellyfish here! You are unable to rescue them all so give this stupid idea up as it doesn’t matter!” The first man patiently picked up the next jellyfish and said whilst throwing it into the sea: “It DOES matter for this one”.