"...It was always about doing the right thing -- following my conscience..."

IMG_6001 Great Aunt Dot, pictured this past spring 

I mentioned my great aunt Dot in a GGC post a few weeks ago -- her presence in my life this year has been monumental and my first thought, after dropping the kids at school the day after the election, was to call her.

She will know what to say. She will mourn with me. She will tell me to get back up and fight. 
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I was right. She did all of those things and more. And because she was so helpful -- and IS so helpful to me, and has been for the last several months -- I asked if it was okay if I interviewed her for a post...

And she said yes.
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As someone who has devoted her life to civil disobedience -- who has learned how to channel her anger into action -- what advice do you have for me and for the millions of women who are angry and looking to channel that anger into REAL WORK?
Dot: Anger is definitely a motivator, but it can cloud clear thinking when it comes to action. Fine to release it, running, beating on pillows, screaming under water, throwing rocks. But railing against "them," shouting epithets, blaming---not useful or helpful--quite the opposite. Direct action needs to be carefully planned and specific to an issue. In this shocking and unexpected situation it's especially important to re-group and figure out what caused it--how it happened--what did WE do or NOT do to bring this about??? Something different is required of us now. Something different happened, so the old ways won't work. We have to stop and really examine what happened. To make sense of it we have to step way back, see the big, big picture… reframe it from an objective perspective…
So---stepping back---one way of looking at it is: we've been tripped, tricked--he's upped the ante on us, dared us---so if we step up to the challenge, we have to keep (Trump's) feet to the fire...
Dot: It's not about protest only anymore, it's about being pro-active, going for what you want, being congruent, using personal power for the common good.
Rebecca: You spent several decades organizing peaceful protests and marching for causes that were important to you. What results did these protests yield? Did they succeed? Fail? Can you explain?
Dot: How does one measure success..? Fail how? It's not a contest, not about winning or losing, but about acting congruently, in accord with one's conscience… doing what feels right and appropriate to do.
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You can read my post in its entirety, here.  

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Also, for those interested, Aunt Dot leads yearly international retreats and in March of 2017 she will be leading a trip to Morocco. For more information go, here. 






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