There is a story I heard once about a Game Reserve. It was nighttime and this Reserve was capturing and corralling antelopes in order to breed them and protect the species. The antelope did not understand their sudden confinement. When the men were preparing to retire for the evening, the antelope were still frantically moving about, I am sure trying to figure out their new surroundings.
Suddenly, from across the plain beneath the twilight skies a herd of elephants encircled the enclosure as though they heard a call. A call from the antelopes that they did not understand; the elephants stood still as though to access the situation. The men, fearful of the herd, kept their distance from them standing still only to watch.
The matriarch of the herd simply stepped forward towards the gate and using her trunk pulled the gate from the latch. The antelopes escaped into the twilight with the elephants.
Was it a “rescue” or a call answered? Regardless of the answer, people (and animals) are acting to answer a call. There is much we can learn from the elephants and antelopes.
A movement is a process. Any process requires change. Any change requires the willingness to change. Any movement is motion. Any motion requires emotion. The Egyptian activist Ahmed Salah stated when asked the purpose of actions, “We’re trying to start something new.” Every movement is a birthing process of creating something new.
It is said that a grass root movement is when ordinary people come together in order to make change. By the very nature, a grass root movement has the potential to alter an entire culture. We have seen this with the elephants and antelope. We have seen it in Egypt. What does this really mean?
Ultimately, a grass root movement is an attitude. It is an attitude that is of creativity, of unrestrained enthusiasm, and of a willingness to join together with other ordinary people for a common purpose of change. Those involved in a grass root movement are anxious for a change. They want to do something that has real meaning behind it. They are willing to let go of their own internal inhibitions, fears and preconceptions because they BELIEVE in the bigger picture.
They step out of their comfort zone because their belief in the ideal that defines what the movement embodies. Every person involved in a grass root movement is equal. Each single person is vital as they bring their own unique voice and ideals to the shift because they are inspired with the vision of what could be with the movement. It is with this spirit, with this attitude, and with this energy that is unleashed on a scale never before seen.
The Awesome Women Hub movement was born out of a vision. It began with questions. Are you a whole-hearted woman who cares deeply about our world? Have you exhausted the end of your reach using the “lone wolf” path and so desire to find other women who will support you? So the conversations began discovering that women across the globe are not seeing their authentic values present in the world.
We, as awesome women, have an opportunity to act now. Act to bring our individual profound truths to the conversation. An opportunity to co-create a deep bond with other women who share the vision of re-connecting the world and make a difference in every aspect of the world from our careers, financial success, family, and harmony in all of life.
The Awesome Women Hub Facebook page was created in April of 2010 by Robin Rice as an experiment in what she has coined the “generosity model” of giving freely without expectation. With women from across the globe (more than 16,000 members) has gathered to begin the movement. The movement has begun to creatively RE-Think some of the basic tenets of our society in a true spirit of collaboration and to put lessons into action through co-creation.
And if we do this, if we act, if we co-create, if we collaborate, we can bring the feminine values into the world in a real and meaningful way. WE can change the world!
And so … the movement has begun.
