Solo ripple

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same — an odd phrase, don’t you think?

During these times, when so much is going so badly for so many, surely any progressive change would bring some relief to some small corner of the world, no? And that would make the effort worthwhile, even if the change wrought were miniscule. A small solo ripple might be better than waiting on the sidelines for a collective giant wave that never materializes. 

To that end, I have put an orange T-shirt on the statue of Pan that stands in the middle of our front-yard flowerbed. Orange is the colour chosen by residential school survivors to represent their movement for truth and reconciliation. 

I often put a political sign in the front yard. I have never before put a T-shirt on Pan, but this small action says to the world, We, in this house, have heard the truth and we are doing this one tiny action as a small step along the path of reconciliation.

Thoughts and prayers are fine, but they are manifestly not enough. Action is needed by each of us. An orange T-shirt in the front yard is one small action that might encourage others to take their own small action…and so a solo ripple might, actually, feed a giant wave of change.

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Land acknowledgement: I respectfully recognize that I live on the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.