This week I attended a funeral of a 93 year old man whom I did not know personally.  There were many truly admirable things said about the deceased including that he was a man of few words who taught others that you didn’t have to say a lot or even be aggressive to be an effective leader and to affect real change. He apparently had a huge heart for helping people, but it was a story shared by a younger city councilman that spoke to my heart and caused something my father said many years ago to ring in my ears—the people have been trained to think that they are powerless.

The councilman shared that when he was young, his community was overrun with gun violence and drug trafficking and the number of drug-related deaths was high.  The deceased, Mr. Green, while in his 60s decided that they couldn’t just allow the community to be destroyed from within.  He helped organize church deacons and trustees into three groups called the liberals, the moderates, and the radicals.  The liberals would share with neighbors information on issues and solutions.  The moderates would go into the streets and engage people, including the ones potentially involved in neighborhood crimes.  The radicals actually patrolled the neighborhood in shifts, day and night.  As a result of this organization, crime in the community fell by 95% and there were no drug-related deaths for 11 years.  



In dying, Mr. Green has left behind these powerful lessons for the living--

1. Really big problems are often solved by just a committed few.
2. We should stop being intimidated by problems to the point of inaction.
3. Change can happen, but it has to start with believing that it can.
4. Less talk, more doing.
5. Positive change requires organization, strategic thinkers, and leaders driven by wisdom over emotion.
6. Leaders with a reputation of caring get a whole lot more done.
7. In your 60s or even later, it isn’t too late to make your mark, to make a difference for your community; in fact, you have a responsibility to do so for the younger generation.
8. People have different skills; he didn’t ridicule the ones who weren’t as brave; he wisely used everyone in their respective abilities which created real power.

The African tradition was to pass down accumulated wisdom to the next generation so that no generation started from scratch or obtained essential information about relationships and interactions from untested sources.  By not spending time ‘at the feet of the elders’, much accumulated wisdom has been and is being lost daily.   

So was my Dad right? Have we been trained to think we are powerless?  Is that why we just go to work and come home and invest so many hours on various forms of social media, complaining about fixable problems rather than investing that same amount of time in a solution?  Is that why just two weeks after being so upset by the shootings in Orlando and the ability to purchase assault rifles, the same people locally helped elect a guns rights advocate (her primary platform) to the state legislature because 90% of the district did not even bother to vote?   Have we been trained to believe we cannot create change?  

I personally do quite a bit of work in my community, but Mr. Green in dying has challenged me to take another look at how I live, to evaluate how to live more purposefully, how to be more purposeful with my time.  I hope that he has challenged you too. 
I have decided to trade 45 minutes of Facebook time for 45 minutes of reading books and materials that will help me do a better job in my stated mission. Over the months ahead, I will pray more. I will actively seek opportunities to interact with more young people to help them redirect their pain, hurt, and frustration into meaningful actions. 

I'm glad history matters to you!

Speaker, Author, Race Relations Strategist
History Matters Institute, A Division of the Scott Brown Group, LLC
www.cleoscottbrown.com