Words are Action!

 WORDS ARE ACTION!

 By Stephen Wilson

 

           NOBODY'S  A MERE MEDIOCRITY

 

           The Man who did not Shoot

 

           My commander almost did not save me

           and somebody shot where I stood.

           and the squad excellently executed

           the order.

           But there was one ,who did not shoot.

 

            Russian ballad by Vladimir Visotsky

 

           All our actions can be crowned with meaningful significance if they are

           done from deep down in our souls.

 

           

 

           THE PREVAILING DOMINANT VALUE SYSTEM IS HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE

 

           Our views of the World are often influenced by the prevailing views perpetuated

           by the mainstream media, and cultural influences that you can't change or

           effectively alter the system or society  in anyway . We too often hear the

           capitalist system is just too strong and deeply entrenched. While the state is

           all powerful ; ordinary people are either too powerless or impotent to make any

           decisive impact. How many times have you heard someone say "You can't

           fight the system. " or "It is better to settle down in a secure job." and "He who

           dares to raise his or her head will get hammered." ? What is worse is that many

           people who are searching for ways to improve the quality of life for people

           around them are discouraged from doing so. They sometimes hold false notions

           about the impact their activities can make on the World. For example, a person

           is deemed disqualified from making a real impact on the World because he lacks

           the right profession, property , power or possessions. They might think that their

           actions won't make a significant impact. It is a common presumption that my action

           can't change  anything significantly. Nothing I, or you, can ever do will  

           make any difference . Therefore one either has to make do, bend to  circumstances

           or swim with the tide. One adapts rather than acts. So people no longer act much but

           become indifferent, fit in, adapt, and observe the main rules, regulations and the law.

           A person no longer acts but reacts passively to 'overwhelming circumstances'. The

           World ceases to be a stage. It is not surprising that such a view makes people

           depressed, despondent and demoralized. So many people feel low esteem and that

           their lives are worthless. It is  sad that so many people who feel  worthless  never

           hear a single person tell them how  their lives are priceless !

 

           Such a view of people is highly misleading, myopic and short-sighted. Just because

           you can't see the impact of an action or it 's imperceptible results does not mean

           it has no significant impact. The British philosopher Derek Parfit in his work 'Reason

           and Emotions ' argues that even a seemingly small action with imperceptible results  

           can profoundly alter events. He also claimed that we often ignore the impact of  

           actions because of the very small chances or probabilities that such  action will have

           a given result. We are mistaken in believing that the trivial , imperceptible and small

           effects won't have a  result.  There is a famous song by the Russian singer Vladimir

           Visotsky titled 'The man who did not shoot'.The song is a wartime ballad which tells

           of how a Russian soldier is wrongly accused of treason and arrested as a traitor. He

           is sentenced to be shot by a firing squad. One of the soldiers knowing the prisoner is

           innocent intentionally misses his shot. It is because of his very act with imperceptible

           results that the accused actually survives and later recovers in hospital. Of course,

           it would be all too easy to conclude that because I am part of the firing squad it makes  

           little difference on the outcome. Someone else in the firing squad will kill him anyway.

           But there are certain fascinating cases where people have faced firing squads and

           survived overwhelming odds. So both Parfit and Visotsky are correct to challenge

           complacency.

 

           A PERSON'S CAPACITY TO DO GOOD IS NOT COMPLETELY CONTAINED

           BY HIS STATION OR SITUATION

 

           We can easily presume that a person's station in life means he can't effectively do

           good or change things. I 'll never forget how school students would sneer at a school

           cleaner or bus conductor. But a cleaner can play a tremendous role in helping people.

           In some Psychiatric hospitals in America and Russia, it was the cleaner who was

           doing more to help distressed patients than some of the doctors and nurses. The

           cleaner was often the only person who would talk and listen to the patients.

           When my daughter visited the funeral of a young woman who had been killed in a

           horrific accident in Moscow, and a  whole crowd of people turned up to pay their  

           respects it was the cleaner in the church who  treated them most decently.

           When Jim Vail and I were working with the homeless in Moscow in the 1990's we

           noticed how many of the homeless were very good at aiding other homeless people

           to find jobs or even a place to stay. We found that often a homeless person ,despite

           having nothing in terms of possessions or a home could still play a very important

           part helping other people. In Psychiatric hospitals often the not so badly sick patients

           helped the more vulnerable patients. So even if a person ends up on the streets, in

           a hospital or prison ,they can still make a decisive difference by their actions.  

 

           SMALL ACTIONS CAN BE SIGNIFICANT

 

           People might think that signing a petition for the release of a prisoner, making a small

           donation or listening won't make much difference because we don't see quick results.

           It is not so difficult for a person to create a pleasant atmosphere around him if he or

           she sincerely tries. I recently read in Daniel Goleman's 'Emotional Intelligence' a nice

           story of how an African American bus driver  warmly greeted and cheered up a

           whole bus full of unhappy passengers in New York. He gave a long talk on all the

           great opportunities in the city such as going to the theater or visiting this or that shop.

           Contrast this with the report given by Thomas of an unpleasant bus ride he  

           experienced in last month's Second City Teachers.  

 

           You never know the exact results of a journey. For example, Henry Dunant once

           went on a business trip. He inadvertently ended up in the midst of a battle being

           fought at Solferino in 1859. Who would have thought that such a shy ,diffident and

           unimposing man would have been the key founder of the International Red Cross ?

           The book he wrote about the battle, 'A memory of Solferino', played a good part

            in publicizing the need for such a society to help the injured during wartime. It is

            easy to forget that many of the people who Dunant approached for help were often

            cynical and thought his ideas would never be accepted or draw fruit. They were

            considered Utopian  or far-fetched. It would never work ! It seemed just the idea

            of an eccentric dreamer. And yet the Red Cross currently counts millions of members!

           

         

 

            WORDS MAKE AN IMPACT

 

            Some people think that the words we utter can make no difference. Action is louder

            that words. So the impact of words can be  discounted ,dismissed or overlooked. This

            is a major mistake. Words are action. You can give a person a heart attack or make

            someone mad just with one word. In Irish folklore some Irish poets killed people by

            uttering a curse or spell. Talking itself is a kind of doing and is a 'speech act'. The

            philosopher J.L. Austin even wrote a book titled 'How to do things with words'. We

            use words to make promises, marry, persuade and act out stories. In reality there is

            no 'empty rhetoric' but ,rather ,insincere rhetoric where we don't live up to our words.

 

            A person ,no matter how poor or humble his background can make a tremendous

            impact in making the world around him or her a better place. Sometimes all it takes is

            one person to start doing something small, such as helping a homeless group of

            people , or setting up a dancing club in some place. Just because such actions don't

            seem so spectacular or exciting does not mean they are not profound on another

            level. And if those small scale projects may turn out to be highly problematic we at

            least will be drawing invaluable lessons on how to do better next time. So we should

            never be astounded by the unexpected impact of many trivial actions. Almost

            anything can happen!