Last night, during the SF Premiere of Last Days in Vietnam, an audience member asked Rory Kennedy how she relates her film to the war in Afghanistan. She said that we enter wars with a lack of calculation and without clear exit strategies, and that one of the lessons she learned in showcasing the final days of chaos -- flooded with betrayal, remorse, and loss -- is that at the point of EXIT, it is simply too late, and that is the point at which we truly see the human cost of war. It is too late to mend, it is too late to apologize. If there were a time to plan, those final days are not it. This is a simple lesson that goes far beyond war--a concept seemingly so hard for us humans to grasp. People in positions of power all across the world, all throughout history find this hard to grapple with, and their stomachs burn with frustration in the face of far more exasperated populations. It worsens when those individuals are faced with the reality that power lies in numbers -- in the masses, and with this comes pressure and tension. But that realization is rarely coupled with the recognition, acknowledgement, and legitimization of the demands and/or deep wounds that underline each circumstance. Today in Hong Kong, the strength of protest continues to surge. Protesters demand a free election. There has been organization and disorganization within peaceful protest. There have been violent clashes. Leaders remain silent. Yesterday in Ferguson, the Chief of Police, after months of silence, came out to speak to a group of protesters -- angry, frustrated, hurt, fed up, fired up. It was hard for him to get a word in (he still got it though) and the look on his face read as though he felt that his conciliatory attitude was being unjustly met with aggression -- he was hurt; but they were more hurt and he could not respond to a demand for indictment because he was not ready to speak on that, nor act on it. He spoke around it instead. They remain angry and frustrated. Bringing it back to my point and why Rorys point regarding war resonates in situations of civil unrest: leadership is having the foresight to build foundations of trust that are thoughtfully flushed out. Leadership is also understanding if those steps were not taken in the beginning, that the steps later will be far more challenging (an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of intervention..). And finally leadership is recognizing that powerful resistance arises in light of profound issues, so small solutions will not suffice. And again, you cannot expect to simply mend and apologize in the final days -- or the moments of uprising. Too late.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 06:25:04 +0000
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