“I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.” ~ Harriet Tubman.

My first brush with authority came when I was quite young, still living in England.  I had been influenced by an older girl to join her in her racket (if I was seven, she must have been about nine years old). She made it sound like such fun! We hung out in the playground during school recess, and as a boy walked by wearing his school cap, we (she? I?) would grab it off his head and throw it up in the air.  On one of these grabs, the cap sailed up and over the school wall, and the boy was not able to retrieve it.

For some reason I was the one pulled in to the headmistress’ office (they weren’t called principals in those days). As if that was not bad enough, my parents had to be there with me.  Not to mention that the boy in question was the son of a policeman, and he kept hinting at what my punishment was going to be. In the office I sat, mortified, thinking how unfair this was, since the older girl was nowhere in sight.  My parents had emptied my savings (did I have a piggy bank in those days?) and gave it to the headmistress to pay for the cost of a new school cap for the boy, which she accepted. She then said something which made it all seem even more unfair. It appeared they had retrieved the cap from over the wall, and so the money would be given to charity.  Insult to injury!

The whole affair was very unpleasant, which must have scared me straight, as I never repeated my crime! I was happy to hear that we were moving to Jamaica shortly thereafter, as I wouldn’t have to see the boy ever again, no more nightmares about being arrested.

The recent death of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny had me thinking about the courage of people who are willing to die for their beliefs.  First off, imagine living in a society where merely to express opposition to the party or president in power is enough to get you arrested.  Imagine if, knowing this, you do so and more, protesting, organizing and finally running for office despite numerous arrests and detention.  He was even poisoned with a nerve agent and nearly died, the only reason he survived was that he was taken to Germany for treatment.  And then, can you imagine, when he recovered, he decided to return to Russia to continue to fight corruption, knowing that he would be detained upon his return.

Which is exactly what happened.  He then spent three years in Russia’s inhumane prison gulag, often in solitary confinement.  The conditions are so bad (severe cold, lack of adequate nutrition) they are compared to torture.  And finally, he died.  Although there will be no investigation as to cause of death, it would be difficult for anyone not to believe he was murdered. 

By accident of birth and geography, I have never been close to a position like that, having to choose between my political beliefs and my freedom.  When I was working on the frontline as a nurse, there were often situations in healthcare that caused us grave concern for the safety of the patients under our care.  In the 90’s, drastic changes in the way hospitals were reimbursed by Medicare and Medicaid resulted in severe loss of revenue to those institutions. When private insurance companies decided to follow the same payment model, hospitals had to find ways to run more efficiently, which usually meant to increase the workload of the nursing staff.  As has been shown in many studies since, whenever you reduce the ratio of registered nurse to patient in the hospital setting, you are going to increase the risk of negative outcomes.  And increase the burden (emotional and physical) on the nurses. 

At the time I spoke out in a meeting with our director of nursing, suggesting that the money saved on nurses’ salaries should be put aside to pay for lawsuits that would ensue.  My charge nurse pulled me aside after the meeting, warning me that I should ‘never let them know your name’.  The director of nursing had asked her my name, and this, she admonished, was bad. ‘You have kids to feed!’.  Of course, the power lies not in an individual speaking out in a meeting, but in an organized response, and perhaps if I hadn’t had kids to feed and bills to pay, I could have become an advocate for change, being one of those who lobby and fight for better working conditions for others.

We are more than fortunate that most of us live in a democracy, where we have the opportunity to speak with our votes.  But there are many who came before us who were not so fortunate.  March being Women’s History month, we read of the amazing, strong, brave, women who marched and protested for the right to vote, the right to have the same rights as men, fighting for equity and inclusion.  And before these women, there was Harriet Tubman, who risked her life to lead enslaved African Americans to freedom.  What kind of courage did that take?  Like Navalny, she knew that returning South to conduct more people to freedom could result in her own capture or death, and yet she did so nineteen times. 

Sometimes when we read about such amazing people, we compare ourselves and come up short. What great acts will we be remembered for?  When did we put our own safety or freedom on the line? And yet it may require nothing more than simple acts of kindness to our fellow human beings.  Being engaged and aware of the importance of fighting threats to democracy by voting is also crucial.  Doing everything we can to leave our planet safe for our children and grandchildren is another very important cause. 

This Friday morning, I give thanks for those who put themselves in harm’s way for the greater good.  I hope you can find your purpose in life, even if it does not involve risking life and limb! And have a wonderful weekend, Family!

One Love!

Namaste.