Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change

by John Lewis

we are all complicit when we tolerate injustice.

“Some men see things as they are and say ‘Why?’ I dream things that never were and say ‘Why not?’” —ROBERT F. KENNEDY

All authority emanates from the consent of the governed and the satisfaction of the customer.

Freedom is not a state; it is an act. It is not some enchanted garden perched high on a distant plateau where we can finally sit down and rest. Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society. The work of love, peace, and justice will always be necessary, until their realism and their imperative takes hold of our imagination, crowds out any dream of hatred or revenge, and fills up our existence with their power.

We are one people, one family, the human family, and what affects one of us affects us all.

to truly revolutionize our society, we must first revolutionize ourselves. We must be the change we seek if we are to effectively demand transformation from others.

You are sure that clouds drift in a light blue sky; you know the date you were born. Faith is being so sure of what the spirit has whispered in your heart that your belief in its eventuality is unshakable. Nothing can make you doubt that what you have heard will become a reality. Even if you do not live to see it come to pass, you know without one doubt that it will be. That is faith.

What we were communicating through nonviolent protest, what we were demonstrating by being willing to put our bodies on the line, was that love had already overcome hate, that the pages of America’s book had already been written, that this nation’s destiny was already sealed in the moment it was founded, so every expression of evil, including segregation, could never stand.

We believed that if we are all children of the same Creator, then discrimination had to be an error, a misconception based on faulty logic. The idea that some people were inherently better was a delusion of the human ego, a distortion of the truth. We asserted our right to human dignity based on a solid faith in our divine heritage that linked us to every other human being and all the rest of creation, known and unknown, even to the heart and mind of God and the highest celestial realms in the universe.

tragedy can be viewed as an equal opportunity aid to our development.

Our problems initiate a struggle within our own souls that take us to the brink of our own experience.

“making a way out of no way.”

The common principles and structure of our beliefs linked people across racial, ethnic, regional, and economic differences who were hoping to contribute to this growing call for change.

Once you realize your own true divinity, no one can imprison you, reject you, abuse you, or degrade you, and any attempt to do so will only be an aid to your own liberation.

You will discover that no government, no teacher, no abusive parent or spouse, not even torture or terror has the power to define you. Once you find within you the true ability to define yourself according to the dictates of your conscience and your faith, you have come a long way down the path that can lead to social transformation.

You may be in your darkest hour, it may be darker than ten thousand nights on your path to lasting change, but there is something in you that keeps you moving, feeling your way through the night until you can see a glimmer of light. That is the power of faith.

“At times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man’s unending search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama.”

The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have to make change in a democratic society, but one vote will not make all the change that is necessary. Change requires patient, persistent action.

Persistent demonstrations prove there is a demand among the people for change. But a one-day protest or a perfunctory march is not the kind of resounding proof that is needed to clearly define a mobilized constituency. Persistent, dedicated, determined action does. It provides unequivocal leverage for members of Congress who are inclined to vote with you, and it educates and informs members who are on the fence, offering room within the legislative process for persuasive negotiations that lead to more favorable votes on particular issues.

There is a process to everything. You must follow certain steps, and each one of those steps must be patiently, persistently, and thoroughly implemented to receive the best outcome. Even setbacks can serve a vital purpose to completing your goal.

Change often takes time. It rarely happens all at once.

ours is not the struggle of one day, one week, or one year. Ours is not the struggle of one judicial appointment or presidential term. Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes, and each one of us in every generation must do our part. And if we believe in the change we seek, then it is easy to commit to doing all we can, because the responsibility is ours alone to build a better society and a more peaceful world.

No matter what life affords you in material goods you can rise above any circumstances through your adherence to high standards and a commitment to following the lead of your own spirit.

“It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.” —MOHANDAS GANDHI

discomfort breeds dislike, dislike breeds disdain, disdain breeds contempt, and contempt breeds hate.

Hating our aggressors was like looking back when we wanted to move forward.

Transformation and revelation require an adjustment from what we know to what we know can be.

When a person dies, the dream does not die. You can kill a man, but the truth that he stood for will never die.

“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.” —BUDDHA

Struggle is the act of making things right. It is an effort to encourage change in the affairs of humanity or the affairs of one’s daily life so they will conform to a new awareness of the truth. And that struggle is an expression of the inner dissonance a person experiences within his or her own mind and heart, a continuing disturbance that will not cease until the circumstances have been corrected.

Darkness cannot overcome darkness, only light can do that. Violence can never overcome violence, only peace can do that. Hate can never overcome hate, only love can do that.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” —NELSON MANDELA, LONG WALK TO FREEDOM: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF NELSON MANDELA

Instead of suggesting that people with cultures and customs we do not understand, people with different color skin, or those who speak another language are somehow beneath us, instead of developing an elaborate rationale to justify our discomfort, it is more honest to simply admit our insecurity and gain acceptance.

Perhaps the variations in appearance and expression that seem to occupy so much of our concern—tall, short, black, brown, straight hair or curly, white or yellow, fat or slender, gay or straight—are more an expression of the broad imagination of the Creator than they are an indication of our value or worth.