Revolutionary Opportunity
by Amy Brugh
I meet with two trusted colleagues (currently over Zoom) every Monday morning for what we call PAL Staff Meeting. PAL is an acronym for our first names. We share the successes and challenges of our practices, rely on each other for advice and guidance, and help hold ourselves and each other accountable.
We often ponder how the world could be different. How we could stop doing things the same old ways. How we could leave all the personalities, egos, fears, and buzzwords behind. How we could truly do what is right and good for people. In a recent conversation we discussed revolutionary opportunity.
Merriam Webster defines the adjective form of revolutionary as:
“constituting or bringing about a major or fundamental change”
Opportunity is defined as:
“a favorable juncture of circumstances” and “a good chance for advancement or progress”
What are the opportunities, right now, for fundamental change in our lives? How can we take these opportunities during times of turmoil and pain? Why don’t we?
Take a look at yourself first
What are some recent examples of change you’ve experienced or observed? When and where do you find yourself resisting change within yourself? How do the words revolutionary opportunity make you feel? What major, fundamental changes can you make in your own life? What is getting in the way?
Identify a revolutionary opportunity you can take in your own life.
An example of a revolutionary opportunity in my own life is to go outside for a walk every day, no matter the weather, to connect myself with the outdoors, to keep myself moving, to ward off despair and allow nature to remind me there can be renewal and hope.
Talk with the people closest to you
Have a conversation with your family and friends about revolutionary opportunity. How could you make a significant change in your the way your friendship groups operate? How could your family radically transform to be better for each other?
Identify a revolutionary opportunity you can take with your friends and family.
An example of a revolutionary opportunity with my own circle of friends and close family is to talk about our bodies with gentleness and kindness, to treat these bodies as extraordinary machines that serve us well, and to eliminate negative words related to shape or size.
Another example is to identify ways of helping each other and problem solving together first, and committing to only calling the police in very limited circumstances.
Bring this to your workplace and groups
How does your workplace cling to old ways of the past? If you’re now working from home, examine what works and doesn’t work about not longer going to an office. If you continue to travel a workplace outside of your home, what has changed for the better? What still needs to change? Decide with your colleagues and coworkers how to move forward rather than “go back to normal.”
Identify a revolutionary opportunity you can take in your workplace or with the groups you’re involved in.
An example of a revolutionary opportunity with my colleagues and professional acquaintances is to be open and frank about budgets, salary ranges, and nonprofit money in general.
Challenge systems and structures
Whether they benefit you or not, evaluate how the systems and structures that dominate our lives must change. Who gets hurt by the ways these systems and structures continue to operate? How do these systems and structures hold hierarchical power in place? Why haven’t they changed?
Identify a revolutionary opportunity you can take with the systems and structures that dominate our lives.
An example of a revolutionary opportunity in our systems and structures would be to fund and implement universal health care in the United States. Like no later than January 2021.