Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change

by John Lewis

Each generation must continue to struggle and begin where the last left off. The sprouting of activist groups and angry sentiments represents a growing sense of discontent in America and around the world. These human beings represent a growing feeling of dissatisfaction that the community of nations is spending the people’s resources on more bombs, missiles, and guns and not enough on human needs. People are crying out. They want to see the governments of the world’s nations humanize their policies and practices. They want to see business leaders and their corporations be more humane and more concerned about the problems that affect the whole of the world’s population, rather than just the overrepresented rich. Some activists today may not seem as focused, prepared, or organized as we were in the Civil Rights Movement, but they are getting there. Every successful movement needs to have achievable goals to give the people involved some victories. That keeps them focused, keeps them going. I cannot predict what kind of change will come. I cannot offer marching orders for a new band of liberators. But I can boil down some of what I know into an essence that can be molded into the structures that you will ultimately create. That is why this little book is divided into a collection of truths that I have discovered are fundamental to the inner transformation that must be realized to affect lasting social change. I have gleaned these ideas from my own formative experiences, from ...