The Work That Reconnects - A film by Pat van Boeckel
“The heart has to find greater space for rebellion.”
As we move towards the end of the year, there is a strong sense that permeates through me of a pending storm that will call us to no longer remain silent with undigested sorrow as we witness the collapse of industrial-growth society. As dinosaurs struggling to free themselves from the tarpits, old structures will unleash a tenacity of force to defend their last stand against a changing world and the force of justice that confronts them and speaks truth to power.
President-elect Trump, cabinet choices of the alt-right, wall street and oil interests against social justice movements like Black Lives Matter and Standing Rock, are an indication of the polarity of opposites that we must learn to navigate. A synchronicity of voices around the world of the likes of Charles Eisenstein, Naomi Klein, and Harry Belafonte, to name a few, are responding to the authoritarian and nationalist direction this country is leaning towards.
So what is it that I can personally do? It is not business as usual anymore. Can I afford to slip into a complacency and expect others to do what is needed? Can I acknowledge my own white privilege and what it means to live on stolen land? Isn't this grief for the world rooted in love for what we are losing?
In this beautifully filmed documentary, Joanna Macy speaks to the importance of what it means to be alive at this time and what we are called to do. Through interviews with activists Ann Symens-Bucher, Belinda Griswold, Barbara Ford, Chris Jordan, Jade BeGay, Mallika Nair, and Pancho Ramos-Stierle, we see how the Work That Reconnects can transform our pain for the world into courage and resilience and cultivate what we can offer the world community.
