Seeds of Change

My writing for this blog has suffered greatly due to the events in my own life, yet at the same time, I have found that there is a new spark under me pushing me harder toward the over all goal.
I have not only found myself a new job, but yet have moved to a community which is like a bubble in time; having all the modern appliances and attitudes of the present day, yet the enclosure of the 1950’s. I feel as Janis Joplin did during her childhood, an outsider, who has the draw of being different; I have become a parlor trick.
It is in this community that I have found others like me-outsiders on the fringes of the community-who seek refuge here from some of the attitudes that have prevailed within the communities that we come from. We have come to accept that the communities that we move into and expose become ‘trendy’ and lose their meaning. So again we move on ward and up ward looking for another place to plant our roots.
There is a small cafe among this group of lost outsiders, an organic and vegan one: Greengos. I found myself lost in conversation with the shop owner about everything becoming ‘yuppyfied’ and ‘trendy’. Even our beloved Cass Corridor (Midtown) Detroit, has gotten itself a Whole Foods; another corporation begins to suck the life out of the independent, and community.
He explained that he noticed a cycle, people allow these corporates to move in thinking that their lives will become easier, and they realize too late that these corporations are doing anything but helping the people. Corporations work only for themselves and slowly kill off independent competition and the populace by enslaving all in dependence.
It was on my walk home that I processed these ideas. I wondered about my new community and the life I had started to build; one far from the previous move. I moved to a community which was already enslaved to the corporate masses, and had no notion of the ideals from which I came. I have spent the better part of my Detroit life in groups that scoff at anything but supporting locally owned business, how was I to survive being ideal in a community with no support? It dawned on me that it is within these communities, where the hippy and the punk find it hard to live, that we must live, nurture and enlighten. It is us that will spark and educate the people on the dangers of the massive corporates and by working in the most closed minded communities, one makes the greatest difference.
It is hard making a living and wanting revolution, not all of us are lucky enough to work in booming independent vegan grocery stores. Making the choice to work for independents and not feed the corporate machine is not always easy. Some independents can even be borderline monopolies. Others are often disorganized, and sometimes become more volunteer work than a paying job. Still it is here where the small dent can grow to a creator of thought.
While we work on making a living and surviving, there is also the fact that we need to keep strong in our convictions for change. Finding the things that are amiss, and working on changing them, even in the smallest ways. Supporting the local owned grocery store, cafe, and other ventures by paying the extra money, helps to belittle the corporate. Build the cliental that wants the change by educating your patrons, and your friends, demand organic and fair prices for all those involved.
Repeatedly, people who want change fall threw the cracks, or become jaded by harsh experiences. It is easy when working within small movements to get discouraged and down hearted. Many times we have to sallow our pride and work for the corporation, and give in to the greed to survive.
Working for change is hard, but person by person, conversation by conversation, word by word, each of us can plant the seeds of change and revolution. Nothing changes if all the like minded people who agree with each other close themselves off to the rest of the world. It is by planting these seeds in the toughest and most unlikely places, that change can be the greatest.