Will You Recognize the Tipping Point?

I ask myself this a lot lately. When I’m walking my dog in my peaceful neighborhood, marveling at the moon. When I’m listening to the news on my car radio and my heart rate doubles within five minutes. When I read reports about the pace of glacial melting, and the implications. 

When blatant lies are passed on as truth — and reasonable people believe them. When blatant hypocrisy becomes acceptable. When compassion is seen as weakness. When fear is mistaken for fact.  

When we know people are suffering. When we ourselves are suffering. When we feel the rug being ripped out from under us. When we witness — and experience — daily threats to our lives. 

Or maybe we don’t. Maybe that’s the tipping point. When it’s personal. How personal? 

When? When do we say enough? When do we take to the streets? 

How much longer do we go about our lives, stick with our daily schedules, make plans for the future? 

It’s an honest question. One I literally ask myself every day. 

I’m not talking about pre-planned, authorized marches with squabbling leaders and symbolic hats. I’m not talking about Facebook activism. Or even calling politicians or schools or whoever has registered in our outrage meter. 

I’m talking about our Arab Spring. I’m talking about no one going to work, anywhere, until the government reopens. I’m talking about bringing it all to a grinding halt. 

I’m talking about massive disruption. I’m talking about revolution. 

Actually, I’m talking about — the weeks before, the days before, the minutes before. And I’m wondering...

Will we know? Will I know? 

You can always see it coming in the movies, right? And secretly, you think you’ll know where you’ll stand if the shit hits the fan. 

My honest question — for you and for myself — is this: 

What would it take for you, personally, to take to the streets? 

Would you lead? Would you follow? What would it take to push you out the door? 

It’s a personal question. A vulnerable question. A real question. I’d prefer no grandstanding or political posturing. I’d prefer your most honest, most direct, most personal, answer. 

I’m listening.