Moment of Witness about Occupy Wall Street

Good morning! I’m Mary Most, and I was born and raised Unitarian. I came to this congregation about 19 years ago, and my children were raised here. I have served on the Bd of Trustees, and on the Communications Committee for many years. If anyone here would like to help with promoting the activities of our congregation, come find me. But today I’m up here to talk about Occupy Wall Street.

 

I work in the Financial District and I go to Zuccotti Park – or Liberty Square, as they prefer to call it — every day at lunch time. I pull on a pair of latex gloves and join the Sanitation team to remove garbage so they don’t get shut down for health violations. We collect recyclables and composting, because we want to do the right thing.

 

Pretty much every weeknight I drive in and drop off your donations of warm clothing & blankets. Whatever I can do to help.

 

I know there are many other people here in this congregation who have done their bit to support Occupy Wall Street — who else has gone to Zuccotti Park or to a rally? or donated supplies or money? or shared a link on Facebook? (Show of hands – there were a LOT).

 

When I go to Liberty Square, or Zuccotti Park, I feel a tangible surge of energy, of possibility, of hope, of the real potential for change. In this leaderless movement, there is no “They” – it’s US. Unless you’re one of the 400 people who are making more than the other 15 million of us COMBINED (and if you ARE, please see the Stewardship Committee!) – WE are the 99%. We’re in this together.

 

This sense of inclusion is something I always felt here at First U: There is no “they” here; it’s all “us”. Church as co-op. We define, we create where we’re going, and how we’ll do it, as a congregation.

 

There are many many conversations going on at – and because of – Occupy Wall Street. Facebook is brimming with political and economic discourse. People on the subway are talking about economic injustice. Charts and graphs are circulating. Within a matter of weeks, this has become a international movement. Today there are over 1600 “Occupied” cities.

 

The media is down at Occupy Wall Street. They interview someone and think they’ve got it covered… I laugh. Y’know the story about the blind scholars who try to describe an elephant? One touches the tail and says an elephant is just like a snake. One touches the leg and says an elephant is just like a tree. You can’t get the whole picture as long as you still use “They”. As long as you expect to find a single spokesperson. It’s like expecting any of us in this room to tell you what Unitarians should believe.

 

Occupy Wall Street is criticized because “They” don’t have a cohesive message, a list of demands. Here’s what I see going on in Liberty Square: you talk to 10 different people, you’ll get 10 different points of view. Everyone’s ideas are different, and everyone’s ideas are respected. Every one co-exists peacefully, in a participatory democracy.

 

Does that sound familiar? Yeah! OWS is a very Unitarian gathering.

 

So in keeping with my Unitarian principles, I support Occupy Wall Street. If anyone has donations you’d like me to bring, please find me during Coffee Hour. Thank you!