“Generational Tensions of a Beautiful Order”: Message from a Minister at the Wall Street Protests
by: Guest on October 13th, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Flickr / David_Shankbone
by Donna Schaper
Older people want to know what is next. Turns out they’re the impatient ones. Younger people don’t want to go there – they trust the process.
Everyone’s got a point. Old folks worry that without a plan, without a program, this glorious fragile beginning will remain just that. When Mayor Bloomberg gets annoyed, he’ll shut it down, we worry. If there’s a confrontation with the cops because folks get grumpy, they will shut it down. Or if the weather gets really, really bad, THAT will shut it down.
Younger people know that their tactics have sparked a movement. They figured out how to have public conversations without microphones. They’ve organized Zuccotti Park better than any of my children ever organized their rooms. They have a growing kitchen of good food, well distributed. They have also managed the sanitation problem and the recycling problem with creativity and élan. They meet ridicule with smiles and increasingly creative signs. They created a slogan – “We’re the 99%” – that is inspiring millions of older folks.
They’re the ones who created the center of gravity, and the world – the media, the unions, the politicians, the clergy – has come into THEIR orbit, not the other way around. They’ve changed the conversation of the rest of us – New York Times columnists, a Presidential news conference, countless personal interactions across the country. We haven’t changed theirs. So they worry a whole lot less. You can hear them saying, “Relax, Mom and Dad – it’s going to be all right.”
Generational tension of a beautiful order exists in NYC right now. Older people can’t imagine sleeping out tonight in this cold rain. Younger people think it is a blast. Older people know about consequences and tomorrow. Younger people love today. Older people hate stereotypes about older people. Younger people hate stereotypes about younger people.
If you are bored with this conversation, send umbrellas. (The rain stopped for a bit, but it’s supposed to come back – with a vengeance.) If you have resources, send money. If you are worried, though, don’t send worry. No one needs that: we have Wall Street to generate anxiety for us. It is overworking. Locate your sense of humor and if you can’t, consider this:
Ninety-nine percent of all the cookies are in the hands of one percent of the cookie monsters. That remains our focus. What happens between us is much less important than what happens when the 99 percent withdraw permission from the one percent to keep all the cookies.
The author is a minister at Judson Memorial Church in New York City.
What a great response to the heaping coals of derision coming from the mainstream (and far-right friinge) media about the #occupy movement. We too have found the crowds marching in SF to be from all walks of life and work. While protestors were being arrested in front of Wells Fargo Bank, bank employees (who had to remain anonymous for fear of retribution) told reporters that they wished they could just join the protest and not go to work. Other friends at Wells Fargo report threats of layoffs and being forced to reapply for the job they already have, but with less benefits and lower pay while upper management gets ever larger bonuses for these “great” cost-cutting strategies. It really is about greed and complete disregard for the people who work for a living.