Good Trouble

Since I published the first post on this blog on May 28, 2017, I skipped my publishing dates only a handful of times because of family emergency and for health reasons.  However, I missed the last two publishing dates in a row.  Why?  It was because I have unexpectedly turned into a community organizer.

To keep a long story shorter, four streets, including ours, enclose a parcel of land, in the middle of which is a woodland with a ravine running through it.  Many neighbors take walks in the woods despite the fact that it is all private property.  Over the years, due to climate change and tree borers, many trees died.  Invasive weeds are rampant.  Deer have eaten most of the undergrowth and saplings.  The woodland looks sad and is crying for help.

I took a walk in the woods for the first time in twenty two years in early spring.  The devastation was disheartening.  It is not my property.  I am not a regular visitor of the space.  Yet, I cannot get it out of my mind.  "We need to do something!"  A voice is reverberating in my head.  "What if neighbors come together to take out the invasive weeds and plant trees together?  It takes some time and work, but it is not impossible.  We can do it!"

I called the city council representative about my idea.  She was supportive, but she said it was not her purview.   I wrote up a passionate appeal to a few prominent neighbors.  Two people responded.  But for their own different reasons, they were not ready to take a strong leadership role to lead any neighborhood effort.  A lot of the work ended up falling on my shoulders.  It was an agonizing time:  I do not see myself as community leader material.  I do not have the personality or skills for it.  I have close to zero neighborhood connections.  Owners of the woods have long lamented about its deteriorating condition, but even they have not taken any discernible action.  Who am I, someone who owns no stake in the woodland, to step in?

Just as I was pondering if I should just call quits, one evening, we stumbled upon a documentary about Hedy Lamarr on PBS.  

Most people only know Hedy Lamarr as a Hollywood star.  Little do we know that she is actually a very interesting scientific inventor.  During the war, she came up with the idea of frequency-hopping, which is the basis of all modern wireless communication device today.  Unfortunately, the US government officials at the time could not see past her being a beautiful woman actor from Austria.  They would rather ask her to sell war bonds than to consider the technology she was offering that could give the US military a significant advantage.  They shelved her idea for years and she never received a dime for her revolutionary invention.

This really interesting documentary ended with Hedy Lamarr reading the Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments by Kent M. Keith.

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.

Give the world the best you have anyway.

Her words felt like a sign to me.  "If Hedy Lamarr could do what she did, I guess I could try hanging in there for my community."  

Many of my usual activities, including blog writing, got moved to the back burners.  My days were all about researching about invasive weeds, looking for tree planting programs, writing appeals to neighbors, coordinating with NGOs, . . .   I never thought I would be engaged in such activities, but I did.  Some neighbors were skeptical and sent rather negative responses.  Luckily, quite a few people were receptive to my message and applauded our organizing effort.  Last Saturday, we had our first action event in the woodland.  Fourteen neighbors came out to tackle invasive vines on trees together.  We worked for three hours.  People went home happily with a big bag of weeds that they removed.  Many trees were liberated.  

I do not know where this neighborhood initiative is going, or if it is going anywhere at all.  But at least, I gave it my best.  If people are willing to do it again, I am willing to organize another invasive plant removal event.  It is not like we are short on noxious weeds in the woods, anyways.  The important thing is: I gave myself a chance to do what I think is right.  I have no regrets.

The late congressman, John Lewis, often talked about getting into good trouble.  What kind of good trouble have you been in lately?