Nothing

What do you do to be involved in the community?

My personal experience of community involvement has not been good. I often find that the passion and need to be useful overwhelms the objective.

I was specifically invited to one group to deliberately be a fresh voice, the person told me it was a risk and it was unlikely that they would accept change – after all it worked that way in 1952 so why change it over 60 years later. They would not accept new ideas so I quietly left.

A more distant attempt to be useful

I have recently joined an initiative on 38 Degrees to counteract misinformation on social media. They wanted us to go on threads where there are arguments, try to calm them down, but don’t get upset if it gets nasty.

In my experience, if you dare to challenge what people have decided to believe it never goes down well. Open-minded thinkers who can listen don’t grow on trees.

An example

The day after the House of Commons lockdown in 2017 I went on to Facebook and couldn’t believe what I was reading. Wild theories with absolutely no basis in fact.

So to be helpful I went onto the thread, a former friend’s thread (note the word former), and said that as I was there in the room I was able to say that those things did not happen.

The abuse I received was appalling, especially after such a traumatic day, I couldn’t believe it. At one point I asked if they actually understood that I was there, and posted a picture with a date and time. They still absolutely refused to believe me, so I backed away and blocked them.

Writing

Is such a lovely undertaking, put ideas down on paper in some form, don’t expect everyone to like them, don’t get into an argument.

Share and let the resonance land where it fits.

Creatives can share ideas, glossing them up, wrapping them in poetry, a novel, film, music, art, and wait and see what happens. People resonate or they don’t.

I prefer distance

From all drama, you can’t be clear-headed if you get involved. All creatives stand back and watch, listen, take notice of life. It comes down to:

Share and leave it be – or duck and run

That’s why the creative arts are so important.

I’ll leave you with an image from England’s greatest Street Artist – Banksy. It popped up in London last week and makes a brilliant point, as he always does.,

I can read at least ten things from that art installation. That’s exactly how it should be. He forces nothing, he just suggests.

Best love

Amorah – Deb