Yesterday's news brought something I haven't seen in my lifetime.
The heart of this post is the calm confrontation on the 26th of June by Bolivian President Luis Arce when a general, backed by a full army force, invaded the presidential palace with the intent to take over the government.
President Arce with his apparently unarmed supporters confronted the general and the heavily armed and masked invaders inside the building.
Arce demonstrates calm authority, and the general retreats.
https://news.sky.com/video/general-arrested-after-leading-a-failed-coup-in-bolivia-13159733
Here’s the full confrontation. At 1:34, a young man appears, supporting the president, you can see him put his hand over his heart in a calm appeal. Shortly after, the invaders retreat.
My intention for this post had been to pick up on the power of moving beyond the reflexive responses of fear and anger. As noted, our reflexive responses are powerful, but what if we learned not to respond to incoming information with fear leading to anger, but practiced engaging everything with calm curiosity: hmmm, how do I handle this one?
My mentor, colleague, friend, David Allen, wrote more than two decades ago about having "a mind like water." It's about a state of calm flow where things are neither opportunities nor threats which then activate reflexive greed or fear, but are things to engage or not engage: Do I have an action here? What is it?
This gives us the space to engage curiosity. It creates space to ask if I have interests here; to ask if I have authority here. It creates space to ask how to engage. It keeps us from acting from fear, anger, agitation, confusion in order to allow our best and most sophisticated responses. Most of us practice this with our small workplace, family, and social interactions.
President Arce confronted a large and somewhat unruly group of people trained, armed, and prepared, maybe expecting, to kill. I saw assault rifles and grenade launchers. The invaders were prepared for a bloody battle.
Arce didn't give them one.
Far be it to romanticize the calm response. History has a long record of people who stood their ground with calm dignity and were martyred for it: Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr.; Ita For, Maura Clarke, Dorothy Kazel, Jean Donovan; the Concord Minutemen, and in my culture, Bobby Sands, who started with violence, and died bearing witness with a hunger strike. The response to peaceful marchers on the Edmund Pettis bridge led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams was violent brutality up to the brink of death. Nonetheless, their witnesses make a powerful rebuke to violence.
Arce's calm and authoritative response to a profound threat is something I study, practice, and teach. Nonetheless, I am in awe of his response, and overwhelmed by its power.
Warm regards,
Francis Sopper
REFERENCED IN THIS LETTER:
Luis Arce: https://worldleaders.columbia.edu/directory/luis-alberto-arce-catacora
https://news.sky.com/video/general-arrested-after-leading-a-failed-coup-in-bolivia-13159733
David Allen: https://gtdfocus.com/david-allen/
a mind like water: https://www.inspirecampfire.com/episodes/episode-139-mind-like-water-with-david-allen-and-julie-ireland
Mahatma Ghandi: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/mk-gandhi-the-clever-tactician-of-non-violence/story-9GfsyyO0Ox6VNKgKpLa4qK.html
Martin Luther King, Jr: https://thekingcenter.org/
Ita For, Maura Clarke, Dorothy Kazel, Jean Donovan: https://www.maryknollsisters.org/40thanniversary/
Concord Minutemen: https://www.tourlexington.us/listing/lexington-battle-green/
Bobby Sands: https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-56937259 peaceful marchers: https://www.history.com/news/selma-bloody-sunday-attack-civil-rights-movement
John Lewis: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/us/john-lewis-dead.html
Hosea Williams: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/hosea-williams-1926-2000/