People are not disposable. And yet many of our institutions and systems treat them as if they are. And you would think this would be obvious, but people are not commodities. So how do we reshape our businesses and institutions so that people are not seen as a resource to be used up and spit out, but as an integral part of everything we do, and one which needs to be nourished and kept healthy?
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Transcript
My body and I had to come to Jesus this morning in
Leela Sinha:the wee dark hours. It kept shouting outside my window
Leela Sinha:carrying signs I couldn't read. And so I shouted down and said,
Leela Sinha:"what are your demands?" and it just made uncomfortable possum
Leela Sinha:sounds or the noise that a baby otter makes before it touches
Leela Sinha:water for the first time. And I said, "okay, but really?" and it
Leela Sinha:said, "ow." And I said, "okay, but where?" And that is how I
Leela Sinha:ended up lying awake at 5am with my thumb pressed into the muscle
Leela Sinha:just to the left and center of my sternum, feeling the
Leela Sinha:throbbing all along my rhomboids, the point of my
Leela Sinha:shoulder, and assorted other places that I'm not used to
Leela Sinha:feeling sensation at all, that humans are not really made to
Leela Sinha:feel sensation in at all, unless perhaps, we have been hit by an
Leela Sinha:arrow or a falling log, which I have not. But what I have been
Leela Sinha:hit by is two plus years of pandemic, poverty, heartache,
Leela Sinha:separation from my loved ones, exhaustion, burnout, and the
Leela Sinha:flailing of late-stage end-stage some-stage? of capitalism, that
Leela Sinha:part where fascism and oligarchy try to take over, over and over
Leela Sinha:again. And somehow, we do not smoothly make the obvious
Leela Sinha:transition from being wealthy to sharing that wealth. Socialism
Leela Sinha:seems obvious to me. But in the meantime, we have to have some
Leela Sinha:kind of bridge, something that helps us regain our humanity,
Leela Sinha:because it has already been lost in this morass. I know about it,
Leela Sinha:because the point of my shoulder and my rhomboids told me so. But
Leela Sinha:I am informed by reliable sources that most people have
Leela Sinha:long since forgotten how to hear what their bodies are telling
Leela Sinha:them, because it hurts too much. And as a consequence, cannot
Leela Sinha:also hear what the body of humanity, the body of the Earth,
Leela Sinha:the body of life are saying. And by saying, I mean shouting. Even
Leela Sinha:when it is also ourselves down there doing the shouting,
Leela Sinha:holding literal signs that literally say what we literally
Leela Sinha:want. But we forget that the people in the tops of the
Leela Sinha:skyscrapers can't actually read the signs once they get up
Leela Sinha:there. They can't see the signs once they get up there. And
Leela Sinha:hiring a sky writer is both dangerous and ineffective, not
Leela Sinha:to mention expensive. Ani DiFranco said, if he doesn't
Leela Sinha:come down and put change in her cup, she's coming up, which is a
Leela Sinha:great line. But the fact is that the elevator is guarded and
Leela Sinha:stepping into a small box into which one can be locked for
Leela Sinha:basically ever makes that strategy probably not the most
Leela Sinha:effective way to create change. And so what is the most
Leela Sinha:effective way to create change? And how do we recognize who we
Leela Sinha:are? And we are in fact, the ones also with the keys to the
Leela Sinha:elevator, we are in fact, also the ones leaning out the window
Leela Sinha:squinting at the shouting, perhaps even sincerely engaged
Leela Sinha:in the possibility that we might be able to meet the demands of
Leela Sinha:the people down there while retaining our seats up here.
Leela Sinha:That is not really how it works. In the old days, the buildings
Leela Sinha:were shorter, even on the fifth storey, you can basically tell
Leela Sinha:what people are yelling about. And I think that's important to
consider:being in touch with the ground from which we come is
consider:a vital part of our survival. And at the same time, we need to
consider:start stacking people better in cities so that we retain some
consider:compactness of resource distribution. And at the same
consider:time, we need more people, more kinds of people moving to the
consider:places where the skies are open, and the farming is good. I
consider:believe in us, my friend Mina Raver believes in us; she is not
consider:the only one. My friend Vanessa Burnett believes in us; she is
consider:not the only one. I believe that those of us who believe in us
consider:are actually in the majority. I believe those of us who want to
consider:simultaneously be in power and share the power are not as
consider:unique or as far apart as the narratives that we hear would
consider:have us believe. Even the people writing the newspapers sharing
consider:the stories have become the people leaning out the 125th
consider:floor of someplace, squinting down the street, trying to read
consider:the signs and figure out what the shouting is all about,
consider:trying to figure out what the demands really are. Because from
consider:up there, it all sounds like possum sounds. This morning, my
consider:body and I had to come to Jesus and I lay there at 5am firmly
consider:consistently pressing out knots that my body doesn't even let me
consider:know that I have, most of the time. Usually, there is no
consider:shouting. The shouting is a way of finding the problem. Shouting
consider:is a way of knowing there is a problem. The shouting is the
consider:first step. But it is only the first step, then somehow,
consider:somehow there has to be consensus, consolidation of the
consider:people at the top of the skyscraper and the people at the
consider:bottom. Somehow, my body has to trust me enough to let me work
consider:out the knots in my pectoral muscle. So that my shoulder can
consider:move freely, so that I can exercise, so that I can breathe.
consider:So that I can meet the very things about which it has been
consider:shouting, that I can meet it on the ground. It can meet me in
consider:the air so they can meet everywhere it wants to. The
consider:signs aren't merely symbolic. I'm relieved about the shouting,
consider:but only when the shouting leads to something.
consider:Here's the irony. My personal trainer and I have been on this
consider:exact problem. My personal trainer and I have been working
consider:on this for months, trying to find our way down the fire
consider:stairs, floor after floor after floor all the way to the bottom
consider:every chance we get. Every time we get a clue as to where we
consider:might find the doorway, the entrance, the way to find out
consider:what's happening down there. The way to read the signs the way to
consider:hear the demand- something, something gets in our way.
consider:That's the way of capitalism. But I have known intuitively and
consider:from the beginning, that the key to this problem is heart ache.
consider:And the way the human body curls around the center of the chest
consider:in defense. My body has to know simultaneously that my heart is
consider:breaking and that I am doing everything that I can to save us.