We do not all need to be Miss Piggy, although it helps to have her attitude. We only need to see that ordinary people can find their voice and use it, and that is how communities change.
There is something wonderfully pointed about this image of Miss Piggy in her sunglasses staring down a President. It captures a truth many of us learn late in life. It is one thing to fire off comments from behind a keyboard, it is another to put your name to a concern, show your face, and keep asking the questions that matter.
I know that I would not have done what I am doing now thirty or forty years ago. Life has changed me in ways I could never have predicted. I have lived experiences that have shown me social and environmental injustice close up. I have seen how decisions made in quiet rooms can shape the lives of ordinary people who have little say in the outcome. You do not forget that once you have seen it.
Now I am in a place in my life where I have time, energy, and the kind of hard won insight that only comes from years of watching how power moves. I no longer feel the need to stay quiet. I no longer feel the pressure to keep my head down. I have skills that can be put to use and I intend to use them.
Part of that work is to seek out the people in our community who are already doing the long hours and the unseen labour. They are not keyboard warriors. They are the ones who roll up their sleeves and take the hit that often comes with principled action. They are the ones who do not wait for permission to do the right thing. They are the ones who keep going even when it costs them something. I have started interviewing them because their stories matter. Not the headlines, not the gossip, but the inner engine that keeps them moving through resistance, exhaustion, and the occasional absurdity.
In every town there are people like this. People who refuse to look away. People who bring a kind of courage that lifts the rest of us. My aim is to shine a light on what drives them and by doing so remind others in the community that they are not alone.
We do not all need to be Miss Piggy, although it helps to have her attitude. We only need to see that ordinary people can find their voice and use it, and that is how communities change.
Who would you put the spotlight on. I am very proud of my village so I am going to make it this one “When Jamberoo’s dairy men outsmarted Mrs Jones”
#communitycourage #speakingupmatters #localadvocates #realchangestartssmall #courageovercomfort #liftingeachotherup #ordinarypeopleextraordinaryimpact
