Solidarity

I think my main problem in fostering and embracing solidarity among any people or group I am similar to (other farmers, women, etc.) is an underlying fear of scarcity—that there isn’t “enough” to go around. Not enough work, enough attention, enough room for everyone to blossom bigger and more radiantly. Of course, the opposite is true. If we encourage each other to grow and bloom unabashedly, we all grow tall together, each of us being able to reach the sun, instead of trying to soak up all the sunlight for ourselves and blocking out the light of others.
By supporting other new farmers as they start out instead of competing, we increase the community’s supply of local food, and increase the voices who can speak with experience and passion about the importance of eating locally, thus expanding the awareness about it and encouraging more folks to choose it. Ultimately, this creates more demand for our trade, and grows more opportunities to engage in this wonder-full work. The same is true for supporting other women as they attempt to step into themselves. The more we can encourage each other, the more camaraderie and potential for amazing new collaborative projects sprouts, and the momentum increases for all of us to have space and support to bloom for our own radiant selves. I suppose at this time and place, scarcity of nurturing community is completely real and completely reversible. Through any encouragement or support we give other women, we grow something empowering for them as well as ourselves, until our garden is fertile and abundant and we all have what we need to flourish. In other words,…

Scarcity is barren, dry ground, unable to support succulent life.
Solidarity is the humus, the beautiful earthly goo only living things can create, that transforms a wasteland into an abundance, feeding and nourishing everything in it, including the very soil it grew from.
We make humus by adding together many different ingredients, kneading them like bread sometimes, and sometimes stepping away and letting other living things do their important work.
To practice solidarity is to work at understanding when to step up and work, and when to back away and let others work. It is active, ongoing, not passive. It is work. Really hard work—some of the hardest work I’ve ever subjected myself to, but good, sexy, meaningful work that creates good, sexy, empowering feelings among people in the times when it’s executed well.

~ Casey O'Leary 2007