The Solutionists

Where did this VISION, this INSPIRATION, this PASSION come from? It came from a place deeper than I am consciously aware. I don’t believe it is something I was born with but something that was formed within me. Something happened that changed my plight in life and that changed the world in which I was caste to live. I was afflicted with Polio as a toddler and from the moment of being injected with that infected needle, the course of my life was altered. A different lot was cast for my life. I was assigned to a different family, even a different world. I now lived among the invisible, in the world of the DIS-abled.

In much of the world I am told – and I can tell you that here, it’s true – the handicapped are an invisible nation within a Nation. They are a loathsome burden; a blight on an otherwise healthy society. 'They have nothing to contribute, nothing to give,' so in exchange for any favor whatsoever, EVERY dignity is stripped from them.

Fortunately for me, I was torn from the embrace of loving arms when society re-assigned me. There were already flames of love burning in the embers of my heart. And I believe it was this mélange that sparked the PASSION of my destiny, becoming an inextinguishable flame that burns in the inner-chambers and keeps me aflame. I can’t say exactly how it happened, or precisely when, but The Fire became My LIGHT – I know Its Source, and that’s enough – but I can tell you that now the burning are flames of HOPE, of PROMISE, and that of an ALTOGETHER OTHER FUTURE.

I still hear the untamed, unmanageable, almost deafening cries of my invisible sisterhood, but the Light of The Fire is leading me toward the SOLUTION. And what EXACTLY are the cries?!? They are to be Heard, to be Seen; TO BE IN THE HEART OF ANOTHER. Having lived with and grown up among this mostly invisible community has developed a passionate drive within me to become a Visible representation of their invisible existence, to be an amplification of the beat of their heart, that perhaps the result of my living and breathing may begin to revive The Pulse of theirs. And while that is my ‘come-from’, this heart has opened wide to embrace the Whole, joining the invisible to the visible, that as ONE we may create that ALTOGETHER OTHER beneficent World.

But how exactly? Well, I can tell you what’s begun. WE are banding together. There are so many who are wanting to be included and involved, so there are many initiatives underway. There are various Associations being formed, and all of these forming with a unity of heart and mind. There are business endeavors underway and political movements, all with the same unity of purpose.

And while one might think that the force of the power and building momentum is due to the numbers that are increasing, it actually has more to do with the direction we’re looking. Being focused on a point BEYOND any differences and into OUR future has created a unified expectation, putting a DEMAND on unity of mind and purpose.

A corporate change of mind is taking place and it’s caused a change in our approach. Instead of looking for a hand, for jobs, and for leadership, WE are taking the Lead and moving Ourselves into position; the position to GRANT favor, to CREATE jobs, to CHANGE THE TIDE of things. Instead of looking for someone else to provide solutions, we are positioning ourselves to become THE SOLUTIONISTS for the changes we envision.

And World Pulse? It catalyzed me, preaching solidarity and possibility and potentiality. And somehow, somewhere along the way I found I was no longer being preached to, but PREACHING! World Pulse has helped me find MY Voice, providing me the tools, encouragement, the leadership and opportunity to ‘PREACH ON’, Sister! To be the Visible representation and the amplification of The Pulse I was seeking to become, both for my invisible sisterhood and my Congolese sisterhood in general. And becoming a VOF Correspondent, who knows how far OUR reach may extend? But HERE, WE BEGIN!