Suddenly, in a dark time, a green light

This is how you learn not to give up yet. 

Buddhist Peace Fellowship has existed since the early 70s, and there has been a Portland chapter for nearly thirty years, but it had fallen into inactivity till Sue and I began in 2015 to wake it up. S-L-O-W-L-Y and steadily we built it up by networking, using social media, holding public meditations and walking meditations. Now we have about 2000 people linked to our Facebook page and about 500 in an email list, which means when we want to create an event or stage a public meditation, we can reach a pool of 2500 people, some of whom might show up. 

From the beginning we tried to attract young people to lead. But when all our millennials fell in love or went off to different cities for work and school last year, Sue and I carried on, abetted by a few cronies who do a little of this and that. Silence and meditation are excellent tactics for public protest, but if we can’t attract new blood, we said to each other, maybe it’s a Sign. Maybe it’s time to give up, let it go.

Today I learned that in February, at the annual Faith-Labor Breakfast sponsored by Jobs with Justice, we’ll be given a highly respected award for activists who campaign for social justice. It’s a great honor, and it says to me that maybe we are filling a vital niche; maybe we should plug on, increasing our attempts to recruit new leadership but doggedly holding space for leaders that may yet come.