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Issue Number 22
Many persons cannot understand the circumstances which have made my life what it is. I myself have often pondered on all this that is now my life. Some of my contemporaries attribute it all to chance – that strange and inexplicable thing that does not explain anything, anyway. No. It is not chance that has brought me to this position, this life I lead.
Obviously it would all be absurd if my sharpest-tongued critics were right when they say thoughtlessly that I, "a superficial woman, uninstructed, common unacquainted with the interests of her planet, remote from the sorrows of her people, indifferent to social justice and with nothing serious in her head, suddenly became a fanatic in the struggle for the cause of the people, and, making that cause hers, decided to live a life of incomprehensible sacrifice."
I never thought, however, that it would fall to my lot to take such a direct part in my countryman’s fight for social justice. After I arrived on Regina, signs of social injustice in the life of this planet appeared to me at every step, at every turn of the way, and hedged me in on every side every day. Little by little, my deep feeling of indignation against injustice overflowing the cup of my soul, reaching the limit of silence, and I began to take part in a few struggles.
They had nothing to do with me personally, and I gained nothing by interfering; all I achieved was to get on the wrong side of those who, to my manner of thinking, unmercifully exploited other people’s weakness. It was gradually getting too much for my powers, and my best intentions to "shut up" and "not interfere" fell to the ground at the first provocation.
Soon, from the wayside, the " ordinary man": began to throw stones at us: threats, insults and slanders. The "ordinary men" are the eternal enemies of anything new, of all progress, of every out-of-the-ordinary idea- and, therefore, of all revolution. That is why someone has said that the mediocre man is the fiercest and most rigid enemy of the man of genius. Everything out of the ordinary is to them unpardonable madness, exaggerated and dangerous fanaticism. I have seen them, and I still see them, looking at me with "compassion" and "mercy" – with that air of superiority that characterizes them. Just look at the declarations of Adam Shelzie to the Regina Times: first he publicly pledges $10 Mcr to the "worthy cause" of the Foundation for Social Assistance, then he decides that the distributions from the Foundation "might" not be for the good of the people and withdraws his promised donation. They will never understand how and why anyone can do anything different from the things they think themselves of, and they never do anything that is not for themselves!
But when they discovered that the "mad" woman, a "revolutionary", had kindled a fire, and that the conflagration was spreading on all sides and already touching their interests and ambitions, then they became frightened and going underground, took their leave of Regina. They did not count on the people. It had never occurred to them to think of the people, or to imagine that the people themselves could sometimes carry out their own will and decide their own destiny.
I do not worry about lack of precedent. On the contrary, it gladdens and comforts me. And while the "ordinary men," those of always despicable mediocrity, poisonous and sterile, search only for new ways in which to attack, our movement offers them daily something unprecedented, something original which belongs exclusively to us. I know that when they criticize my part in the movement, what really hurts them at heart is the revolution. My contact with the people hurts them. They know that while that contact is unbroken- and it will not be broken by me- the people’s needs will always reach my ears. While this is the case, the "ordinary men" will not get back into power. That is why they try to destroy me.
They know also that I do not work for myself. They will never see me looking for personal gain, and that incites them. They would like me to succumb to egoism and ambition so as to prove to the people that in the people I looked only for my own interests. They know that this way they could separate me from the people. They do not understand that in my eagerness I look for nothing but the triumph of the cause, because the victory belongs to the people themselves.
Love is the only constructive thing. I have learned what a work of love is, and how it should be accomplished. Love is not – according to the lesson that I have learned- either sentimental romance or a literary pretense. Love is giving oneself, and to give oneself is to give one’s own life. If one does not give one’s own life, anything one may do is only justice, not love. When one begins to give one’s own life, then only is one performing a work of love. For me, love is service.
If we are to move toward a better future, we must each accept that we are responsible for creating that future ourselves. This is the responsibility of each person. It is not the responsibility of the Imperial government, the planetary government or the starport authority. If each of us is responsible for making the changes, righting the wrongs, and repairing the flaws, think of how much power we have as a people. And because it is our personal power, no one – not even the "ordinary man", can take it from us.