“The Captain heard it and took action, only when he realized he didn’t have any choice.”
In rereading over my injustice essay, I was quick to locate a similarity between the attitude, actions and motives I spoke of, and the work of Stephen R. Covey in his article on Co-production.
In this article, the foundation of coproduction, or the relationship between the non-market world and the market economy as it was described, is applicable not just to stewards of public policy and law, but also to the individual, cast of characters and stakeholders, hoping to create paradigm shifts on the horizon.
So, the question I posed was, “What part of this potential paradigm shift am I a part of?”
The answer, in my opinion, was that I represent the terra firma. A member of civil society, who through his own actions, and more importantly, the telling of that story, can help to produce a paradigm shift.
You could say this is just a more elaborate way of telling someone that I am creating a butterfly effect. However, paradigm shifts do not come without struggle, which eventually fall on the shoulders of individuals and the choices they make. In this case, my choice was to either continue to live a life in which I was suffering in silence or embrace the true person that I am.
Imagine if that were the case for all human beings. Imagine that by individuals embracing that they were, gay, lesbian or transgendered, but also American, and entitled to pursue happiness the same as their fellow Americans, how their message would grow only brighter to the legislators, opponents and others on such serious debates as DADT, and federal recognition of Same-Sex marriage. Wouldn’t then, and only then, change be inevitable?
In respects to being part of that terra firma, I experienced not only a personal change in belief systems and advocacy, but I realized that opponents of my constitutional, legal and personal beliefs represented something of a lighthouse as well, although there were stark differences.
Like myself, they represent the non market economy, and thus we have competing interests. These individuals are unwilling to budge based on generations of, “family” values, public policy and law, informed through, at least to some extent, prejudice. It seems then, that to me, the lighthouse that shines the brightest would inevitably create the most impact.
So, it is without a doubt, that if our goal is to indeed change the way society thinks about the ways gays and lesbians are treated by the law, then we must induce a paradigm shift amongst those boats being beckoned to the harbor, and that starts with the individual.
The individual must be willing to change their own course against injustice. Often times, just admitting that injustice, prejudice, racism or oppression is occurring towards them is the first step. From there, the message grows louder, until, hopefully, the ships approaching have no choice, but to change course.
