We Shall Overcome

It was an unusual journey, decades long, and accomplished in about an hour. The setting of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London can tend towards the comfortable and familiar, but on this particular Sunday a few days ago there was clearly some rustling going on.People of various faiths had gathered to speak out against income disparity and to assist London’s Citizen’s Panel with gathering input for the provinces official Social Assistant Review.We were invited to sing and that’s where the journey began. Protest songs were selected from an earlier era. The crescendo was obvious as the 400 present sang “Blowin’ In The Wind.” Near the end we were encouraged to stand and sing “We Shall Overcome.”It was then that the irony of it all struck me. Here were a good number of mostly older people singing about overcoming when in effect they were already the achievers.  We all had comfortable homes, cars, kids off to university, grandchildren, beautiful places of worship and even pensions, but here we were joining in a song about adversity, the need for patience, and a hoped-for triumph. Without any urging people grabbed hands with strangers they didn’t know and filled the Cathedral with an ardour that felt decidedly more urgent than a hymn.Somehow those assembled had journeyed back to the civil rights era in America and got caught up in their own emotions. These comfortable and good folk suddenly found themselves desirous of another social challenge, a need to make a difference in their later years and leave a better world for their children and grandchildren. They grew up in that era and had lived long enough to see some advancement in the field of racial equality. Nevertheless, the image of successful people voicing “We Shall Overcome” will endure with me for a time. They had taken a quick journey, assessed their own personal progress, and opted to make a difference once againAnd then today at the big rally for the Electro Motive workers (see video below) I witnessed the same phenomenon. The thousands gathered weren’t just there to support the workers who had been so caustically treated by Caterpillar Inc. They were, in effect, calling up the stirring spirits of the past – not an era of racial discrimination, but a time when working class families represented the heart and soul of communities across this country. They were like my mother and father – like everybody’s parents or their grandparents. The salt of the earthy variety, people just like them peacefully gained independence and financial security from the elites and built a better more equitable Canada – not by violence or overthrow, but by solid and hard work, the kind that builds a future. Seeing those workers today made me think of my parents. My own personal journey was undertaken as I wondered what it would have been like if my parents had been disposable people, tossed out of employment because somebody far away desired an extra one-quarter of one percent on their shares.The worst of capitalism is now descending on this generation and beneath the granny’s hat we can see the nose and teeth of a wolfish future. But if those thousands out in the park this past weekend have anything to do with it there might be other options. To be sure, the critical mass of those present was made up of union members, but I was delighted to see other Londoners from across my community stand side by side with some pretty hard-pressed workers.Everyone there was on a journey back to a time when work mattered and employers mattered to the quality of life in our communities. It was interesting watching business men and women present standing next to people they had never met and crying out for federal involvement and for corporate humanity. These represent the best of the capitalist spirit and when they acknowledge the injustice of what Caterpillar is doing it helps us to understand that these people – responsible capitalists – are actually our allies in a cause far greater than the bottom line.And so there have been thousands of personal journeys in the last few weeks – powerful reminders of a country that was once more equitable but which will have to find new avenues of rediscovering it again.But what now? The big rally is over. It’s back to the picket line and our personal lives. Well, the Citizen’s Panel is asking citizens to stick at it and link to the Social Service Review questionnaire found here.  Take a couple of minutes to weigh in on income disparity. We need your help if we are to make a greater difference. Then all citizens are called to the London Convention Centre for another pivotal opportunity to make your feeling known.At the rally we strangely found ourselves – our voice, our collective identity, our soulful natures. And I think we like what we saw and how we felt like we were part of something greater than just us. At this moment it is about the Electro Motive workers, but ultimately it is about wealth unequally distributed. It is time for the overcomers.http://youtu.be/HBSC2PSoF9Q