We all want to change the world. Well, most of us anyway. So, where do you stand, when others fall? As we talk about revolution, about the turning of tides from one wave to the next, let us drown ourselves, at least for a moment, in definition.
So, what is revolution? Different strokes for different folks, perhaps? Each perspective likely could define the word in their own individual context, so it's helpful to have one common understanding from which to start.
The Oxford Dictionary firstly defines "revolution" as "a forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favor of a new system". Before we proceed further, let's yield to the simple truth that overthrowing a government via revolution may not lead to a favorable "new" system. As suggested by use of the term "forcible", the action may result in desperate regurgitation of the old system, disguised in a respiration of new attire.
Must all revolution be forcible? Is this an immutable law of humanity that in order to have a new system, one must forcibly remove the old? Can we not have a revolution for revolution, an evolution of revolution? In a concrete manner, revolution can, and should, hearken to its second definition, which portrays "an instance of revolving".
As suggested, such definition commands "the movement of an object in a circular, or elliptical course around another, or about an axis or center". Naturally, this orbits more questions than answers, amassing the center as nothing less than an abstraction. In practical terms, in mathematical terms, it can be quantified. However, in layman terms, the center is a nebulous concept. It's a cloud of ideas and actions that reign as the resultant storm.
So, what is revolution today? What are we circling around? What are we waiting to overthrow? I don't have answers for these questions to relish upon. In fact, there very well may not be any digestible answers at all.
It could be that revolutionaries simply make it up as they go along. As such, they may be classified as reactionaries first, and revolutionaries second. This most likely will not sit well with those who self describes themselves as a revolutionary. Perhaps, there is something evolutionary in our need to be revolutionary. Herein lies our calling card.
The journey continues right here and everywhere.
Last Updated: January 3, 2022
