REFLECTING ON THE CONGRESS' SPIRIT AND SUCCESS

Susan (?): I’m one out of 470 people and maybe the next the paradigm shift is that it’s as a body that things get done. So does my part fit in the whole, and a willingness to yield to others in the process? And we’re, I think a lot of the consensus groups today—they had their last meeting this morning—and a lot of them found an agreement at the end being, wasn’t it great to gather with fifteen people, even in their small groups and their working groups, and share this intimate friendship that we’ve shared.

David L. Smith (Interviewer): Was there a particular experience that you had that was most meaningful to you?

Chris (?): The most important thing for me, has been the response, the immediate response that we found, first of all, in the volunteers beginning to gather, to get behind this project. And secondly, when it came to the Congress itself, the response we received right from the first Friday evening. It was right there. People were really into it. They wanted to give. They had something important to say. They felt they were amongst friends, many of whom they’ve never met before in their entire life. And I’ve had numerous people come up to me individually, just giving me a hug saying how much we appreciate how this is being done by everybody and everything around us. And that, that’s the spirit that runs right through all that. That has been the most impressive for me.

Susan: I guess the most dramatic heart response I’ve had in the last few days—I just think of the Congress in motion—has been the time when the international delegates were on the stage and there were thirty of them and realizing that we have made the move we had, the shift has started. Now there might have just been one delegate from Belgium and one from India, but it started to happen, and these people are coming. I’m sure international delegates have always been coming to conferences from overseas, but there’s a very different quality to this. These people were funded by a scholarship fund, or they traveled miles just for this week. And this might have been their savings for three years because they really needed to be here. And a sense of the Planetary Citizen was actually a reality. That was very exciting for me. Then also, I think the ongoing excitement for me and just being totally immersed in the process the whole time, you know, starting with Chris and I in the office. The first day we rented the offices here in (?); we decided we needed an office in (?) to begin to generate substance here in this building. And we actually manifested the money for that office even, there wasn’t, we had no funding. It wasn’t like the Rockefeller Foundation had said, yes, here’s money and make the Congress conference happen. That we had a fundraising film, the Gandhi film fundraising benefit, and we raised enough money to rent the first month here in the office. And we had four offices, and Chris and I were sort of rattling around and thinking, oh, maybe we have too many offices and, you know, maybe we should just get one phone. And, you know, really? And then by the end the last week, there must have been, you know, 20-30 people buzzing in and out of the offices, the phones constantly growing and a sense of how magical the process is when you, almost when you stand back and let it happen.

Chris: It’s a very important aspect. But tied in with that also is the practicality of what we did initially. When we started, we literally brown bagged it and we ‘d been brown bagging it for months—and never telling I had so many bananas in my life. But it’s that—it was that clear focus we had right from the beginning, that we were going to stay ahead of expenses, and we have done right from the word go, apart from that initial week where we needed a helping hand from the Gandhi benefit. And it just beautifully evolved. Everything came into place. A lot of things that were donated to us, there were a lot of equipment, there were lots of volunteer help and time that made all the difference in the world to our being able to get this off the ground. But it was pragmatic management with the finances to make certain that we were never under that particular pressure. Because you’re gonna have enough pressures of the Congress to fill your time.

Susan: And the first thing we did was put our $100 into registration. I mean, that was my attitude and I know Chris’ as well. I’m going to be—I’m a delegate now. I won’t be attending the sessions probably, but I need to contribute financially too. And the sense that at the core, if there isn’t that attitude at the core even, then how can you expect anyone else out there to do it? And sure enough, we began to see the registrations coming in because we were willing to do it ourselves. You can’t expect that to happen out there unless right at the core, at the center of things, there is that integrity.

Chris: That’s right. I think we found out a lot of other things along the way too is. You can do it from things without necessarily having to spend money on it them. Allowing people to give. It’s as simple as that. You don’t ask, if you just allow and provide the space for people to give and they love to do it. They want to give because they realize something that’s very, very solid and is right and has something to do with everyday living, our being, our existence. It’s a beautiful thing for people to express themselves through. We’ve learned a lot of shortcuts about how to, for example, produce materials for registration packets and then for the little badges and so on. Who would willingly donate their time and donate their charges for the paper, for example. We found other people who were willingly to do artwork for us at a tenth of the price. And they’re doing this out of their own heart. Because they know it’s an organization that’s being cooperatively run. And it begins to give you another dimension again, as I mentioned, something that goes beyond our everyday way of measuring things.