“the timing must be right, the tactic, apt. Originality counts. One size does not fit all” Todd Gitlin

Looking for answers. There are many ways of progressing towards our goals and the one thing we can be sure of is, no one has all the answers or the solutions of how it could or should be done. There is a time for protest and sometimes we just need to do other things. Finding out what we are good at and using our best skills is sometimes needed, other times learning new ones is required.

Sometimes we need to learn through our mistakes and sometimes we need to trust advice. Trust is a very important aspect of learning. Judgement and trust is what experience is made up of. Checking the facts before acting on them is also useful.

There is always wiggle room, no matter how tight the situation becomes. Sometimes we just need to find it. If we believe and are serious about what we do we should not be frightened about being wrong Being wrong and facing up to it means we have learned something. In building movements for change we shouldn’t expect to like everybody, we need to work with people we don’t like, we need to deal in mini capitalism if it helps to improve peoples situation. Having high principals, and puritanical politics is okay for academics and writers but can be a draw back when put to the test in the community.

Some people and groups do wonderful things in the community but get burdened by the inner core-ism effect of believing their way is the only way to make a difference. We each need to find our way and sometimes the road can be a bit longer, adventurous, tedious, and sometimes boring. Some of the most important work is the boring stuff. But that is the way for most people. The thing is, no matter what route we take there is a place for everybody in a democracy, when we discover no one knows it all.

In the end decisions have to be made and responsibility for those decisions need to be accepted. So long as they are thought out properly and consensually and someone may need to take the lead, represent others, or be the expert. If failure occurs it is what we do next that is important and the most important part of the learning process.
People have many talents. Finding out what they are and using them creatively is much more useful than trying to shoe-horn folk into tasks that they are uncomfortable with. On the other hand there are times when things just have to get done, no matter what. This can be the time we measure our true conviction to the struggle for change.