The intersection of private and public - analysis synthesis, and personal meaning - Essay Example

A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire Before I saw the movie, The Long Walk Home, I had no idea how serious racism was in the U.S. in the 1950’s. According to the movie, many African Americans were suffering from poor treatment by white community. Both Odessa Cotter, the black maid, and Miriam Thompson, her white employer, feel the effects of racism on their private lives, although in very different ways. For Odessa, racism invades her life whole day. She has always been poor, not because she is lazy or stupid, but because her place in society as a person of color limits her opportunities for advancement in schooling, employment and government.

She always faces many obstacles along her journey, including fear of losing her job, the physical pain of her scalded and bleeding feet, and the possibility of being beaten or worse for speaking up because of color of her face. Odessa makes a very courageous decision to go public with her desire and hope for a more just society and equality for her people. On the other hand, in the beginning of the movie, Miriam is not really even aware of racism. Miriam has lived her private white life not really understanding or even caring about what is happening around her in the public area.

She is so blind to the fact that racism could invade her private life that she sends her daughter with the black maid to the “white” park, resulting in Odessa’s expulsion from that park. Before the bus boycott starts, Miriam is worry about whether Odessa will come to her house to clean the house. When Odessa is unable to be on time for work or not to come to her house, Miriam starts to feel some personal consequences of racism because her house cleaning expectations were not being met. After she starts driving into Odessa’s world, and sees how different life is beyond her community, she starts to change from a very private person who just wants her house cleaned to a person with moral spirit.

As a result, Miriam makes the brave decision to break out of her very private “white” community and become a public figure in order to stand up against racism. She against her husband and drives into Odessa’s neighborhood to pick her up and eventually begins a carpool to drive Odessa’s neighbors as well. By her actions, she displays her hope in a racially equal world with more justice for the black people. This story stands as an example how small gestures can have a great impact on society.

Much can be accomplished when the people, white and black both, work together to effect change. This was the basis of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. As a matter of fact, it is possible for us to replicate their success stories in our present world in order to make it more just and humane. At first, we need to overcome the hold of prevailing negative ideologies, prejudices and stereotyping. People often tend to think that there exist a strict dichotomy between personal and public life.

However, in reality, both are not only intertwined but also interrelated. Psychologically speaking, what happens in our personal life could have certain effects in our public life as well and vice versa. When we look at history, there are ample of examples that prove that when somebody crosses the boundaries of his/her personal world in order to make changes in the very world in which s/he lives, nothing could prevent the triumph that desire. Remember, when Copernicus told that the sun rounds the earth and not the other way, nobody else was there to stand for the truth.

But, the truth is that truth could stand for itself. The lives of great leaders such as Luther King, Mandela, and Gandhi are the concrete exemplification of this fact. When they faced challenges in their personal life, they did not quietly withdraw from the scene, but, approached the world in order to make it a better place. When we see injustice of any sort around us, it is our duty to say ‘Enough is Enough’. A big ‘NO’ can change the world a lot. “The Long Walk Home’ which too presents the picture of the conscious blurring of the distinction between personal and public lives by ordinary people like you or me based solely on their hope and courage to imagine the impossible.

It is possible for me to elaborate the same point by making personal narrative which involves a successful effort in effecting the rule of law. I had the luck to be part of a public initiative to restore law and order in an interesting way. Korea, my home country, has the provision of compulsory army services for the young male. However, it is a common practice among the children of the Korean elites to evade the rule by their backdoor influences. In 2003, the issue became hot as a socially committed person brought the issue into public attention.

Soon, the resentment grown through the voluntary networks of citizen groups and those who were overriding the rule of law through their influence brought back to established order. The whole experience taught me that ‘A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire’ as I at first was skeptical of the initiative. Our initiative had many unique characteristics as a protest movement. It was not sponsored by any organizations or political parties. We used a strategy of ‘digital networking’ in order to gain attraction from the general public, like-minded people and activists.

The possibility of using internet for organizing the apolitical sections was explored throughout. We collected email addresses of people in academic institutions and NGOs and explained our cause to them. Also, blogs were regularly used to theorize our issues and present it in a people-friendly platform. Besides, we wrote a number of public interest letters to major newspapers, magazines and other periodicals. Most importantly, we have conducted a signature campaign at the grass root level and send it as a petition to the concerned authorities from top to bottom.

Throughout the protest, all these strategies helped us to concentrate our forces and pressurize the authorities to solve the issue. As a result, a committee was set to the matter and authorities made the arrangements for ensuring the strict implementation of the law. From there, regardless of the power differences, everyone undergoes the compulsory military term and it is extremely good for both the nation and its citizens. To conclude, there are people who usually argue that we need to be ‘practical’ in our life.

It implies that we must just go by the status quo. But, I say, we must have dreams which are charged with hope and a longing for change. It is not just enough to have dreams; it must also be accompanied with the endeavor to actualize it. ‘What is to be done’ of our times demands doing what is not done. When the old injustices comes in new forms, we need our old tools in new assemblages. It is no way going back to the old, rather an act of advancing from the old to the new. The sole option is to organize.

Organize as objectively as possible. Know well whomever we fight against. Overcome false consciousness in order to avoid the condition-‘For they know not what they do’. Our struggles must involve the invention and reinvention of the methods of our struggles.