From a World Can’t Wait organizer in Atlanta:
8/11: The city of Atlanta
is surrounded by an outer perimeter or belt-way. Typically the Atlanta Chapter of
World Can’t Wait operates ITP (inside the perimeter) since that is where the
majority of us live. Conventional wisdom leads us to believe that focusing our
efforts OTP would be not as successful as ITP. After a late start and no media
showing up last Saturday morning, I must admit that I was a bit hesitant to
drive my fully decorated Oct. 5th truck through BUSH LAND
(outside the perimeter).
As a WCW organizer, I learned a HUGE lesson! People in isolated areas are more in need of
WCW outreach now than ever! I can’t even
explain in words the gratuity those people outside the perimeter expressed to us
on our WCW Car Caravan. One woman
actually ran out from the store that she was working in and thanked us for
being so courageous! She said that there
are so many people who have lost all hope and seeing us made her feel like
there is still hope. I told her that we
need more than hope, we need ACTION, and for her to try to start a WCW Chapter
at her school, or to donate $$$ via the website. She signed up on our e-mail list and will
hopefully get involved!
The lesson learned is that sometimes our own conventional
wisdom limits our effectiveness in what we are actually trying to do here. We really need to question ourselves,
especially those of us who have been involved in the movement or WCW since its
inception. If we all don’t start thinking
outside of the terms we’ve been operating thus far”sorry guys, but we will be
dead in the water! But, if we instead
learn from our own limitations and really push this beyond even our own comfort
zones, I think each of us will be truly surprised at the support and reactions
we will get from those people outside the usual suspects (those already involved
in the movement).
