I asked one the campaigners outside St Pauls in London what was motivating him to be there through the cold nights and challenge of it all. He put his head into my shoulder and began to weep. As he sobbed, he said “For my children. I want something better for their future.” He explained that he has suspended his sole trader business to be part of all this.
I have no idea whether camping out in the cold for weeks will help that cause, but something is happening. This is more than the usual suspects of anarchists and anti-capitalists stirring the pot outside of a G8 meeting.
There certainly is a range of motives for camping outside the ancient cathedral. The drunks and mentally ill are inevitably drawn to the activity and well meaning gifts of the curious passers-by. One businessman who is running his on-line marketing business is doing a full day’s work from a tent and I couldn’t help wondering where he is getting his laptop battery charged. Some of the campaigners clearly have a spiritual mission to fulfill. In an age when we are compelled to appreciate diversity, the steps of St Pauls is really the open university.
What struck me most in talking to people was the eagerness for friendship as we stopped to talk, and the sadness and loneliness of the protesters. They seem to be expressing a human gut instinct that something is wrong with the world, but they lack a singular vision for what needs to happen.
The campaigner who sobbed on my shoulder clearly loves his children. The campers showed that they want to be loved, and in a profit driven world, it seems they are collectively re-stating Lennon and McCartney’s discovery: “You can’t buy me love.”
Tags: Anti-capitalism, Euro-crisis, Global collapse, Love, St Pauls. Occupy, WWJD
John D Manwell's Blog 
December 1, 2011 at 3:01 am |
Nice post 😉