KRT: The Little People

This week’s topic is: You Don’t Have to be a “Big-Name Pagan” to be a Trend-Setter and Enact Greater Change in the Kemetic community.

I’ve always been a firm believer that little things add up. A common discussion I have with people about little things adding up relates to the dollar charity donations you make at the grocery store. To illustrate the point (politics aside), I always ask people- how valuable is a dollar? Most people don’t think a dollar does anything. But when you consider the dollar charities at stores and how many people traipse through those stores every day- imagine how much that single dollar adds up.

Think about it- if you and everyone in a major metropolitan area (let’s go with a nice round number of a million people) donated just one dollar per month (so $12/year) to a charity- that could easily be $12 million in one year.

You can do a lot with that.

And that’s how I try to frame a lot of my experiences, especially when I get into the line of thinking that my input doesn’t matter. One or two people can create massive change. Or to quote Mulan “One grain of rice can tip the scales. One man may be the difference btwn victory and defeat”.

 

If we want to go into a Kemetic standpoint- look at how sparse our landscape is. Imagine if Tamara hadn’t created KO- where would we be now? Imagine if Reidy hadn’t created Eternal Egypt – where would we go for our rites?

Imagine if both people hadn’t done what they’ve done. How would the landscape differ? How would the actions of a few effect the world we live in now? Especially when you consider how small the Kemetic community is?

If there is anything I want anyone to get from reading this post, its to know that you matter. And that every single. little. thing. you. say. makes a difference- for better or worse. When I hear about someone silencing their voice because other Kemetics beat their thoughts or ideas into the ground, I cry because it’s a such a shame and waste of a valuable member of our community.

Never let others silence you.

Which brings me to one of the point questions in the discussion: When you look at the Kemetic community as a whole, what flaws, hindrances, and negative trends do you see at work?

I think I’ve spoken about this at great length in the past (see here, here, here and here for examples), but it bears repeating: Kemetics can be jerks. If there is one flaw that I see in the Kemetic community that bothers me the most, its that many of us are mean and refuse to work together.

Or, in other words, there is no Kemetic community at large.

And if I could ask for improvement to occur in one area- it would be that. That people actually work together and play nice with one another. I would want to see us all leave our egos at the door and to become more mature in our interactions and for the interactions we have to be more civil and productive as a whole.

What are some common, everyday things we as individuals can do to improve the current state of affairs? What suggestions do you have regarding bridging divides between different Kemetic factions and encouraging cooperation toward common goals?

I wrote a basic post about some of the ways we could learn to branch out and expand our community and interfaith work- and I still stand by those ideas. Working on talking amongst ourselves and exchanging ideas btwn one another is one of the best ways to work on building up the community.

Being sure to do so respectfully is key, though. It does no one any good to start flame wars or troll a forum.

Communication and respect are the only ways I see us ever moving forward. And until we can learn to act like adults and discuss like adults, I think we’ll be stuck at our current location.

And as stated in the post linked above, I do believe that the best way to create a more ‘in real life’ Kemetic community is to go out and meet up with other Pagans, or make some sort of impact in the local Pagan community. Give talks and/or workshops. Write articles for local publications. Visit local cons and such. Only by letting people know that Kemeticism even exists will you have the potential for others to reach out to you- and from there to form a community or local presence.

And in that vein, it has to be remembered that we have to keep trying and not give up– even if the task looks daunting. Remember that you bring something to the Kemetic table/community that no one else does, because no one’s experiences are the same as yours. So regardless of whether you have 5 viewers/readers or 859357 viewers/readers, remember that you are important. Being small doesn’t mean that you’re not valuable.

To see the full list of responses to this question, visit the Master List here.

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