In Seeking to Change the World, Go Back to the Basics of Community Building

I've never been a purveyor of novels. Their often made-up stories simply did not sit well with my interest in facts, expressed through news articles and research reports analyzing the ins and outs of contemporary affairs. Novels, and their focus on the emotions of individual protagonists, just felt so small, maybe even irrelevant, in the larger trends of our world, represented by wars, pandemics, climate change, and bold moves by executives at globally renowned multinationals. Average Joes and Janes, to me, simply mattered little, on their own, to those larger-than-life forces that shape human civilization.

The protagonists of "Thanks to You, I Look Forward to Dying" (おかげで、死ぬのが楽しみになった), a Japanese novel I read recently, certainly fit the profile of the "Average Joes and Janes." Spending their entire lives in a neighborhood, the 70-year-olds reminisce about their passion for being part of their high school's cheerleading team, which disbanded more than half a century ago. Behind a newfound desire to relive those passionate days are regrets about mundane lives lived, with unfulfilled love, unfinished projects, and avoided human relationships.

These protagonists did not seek to change their worlds, yet their words were filled with wisdom that would not be out of place in biographies of world-shakers. Notably, they questioned the very idea of cheerleading as an encouraging the audience to try their best. As one protagonist noted, heaving attention on someone when they are attempting to excel may often be counterintuitive. The sense of pressure from being cheered on may lead to mental breakdowns, causing the person to simply give up, lose hope, and run away. To cheer someone on, the novel concludes, sometimes also means giving the person the room to not excel immediately, without becoming a target for disappointment or criticism.

To the world-shakers, such a sentiment can be a letdown. Changing the world equates with breaking the status quo, against the wishes of the vast majority that are accustomed and may concretely benefit from the status quo. Convincing an initially uninterested audience to undertake a brand-new, yet unknown endeavor, with only the most abstract sense of possible success, will face an extraordinary level of mass resistance. Those who seek change through convincing the conservative majority, as such, likely face an extreme sort of mental pressure felt by those being cheered on.

Yet, the small-town stories of the three old men seeking to find passion in the everyday also should remind world-shakers that change need not be revolutionary and universal to be defined as successful. In the novel, the old-timers help a teacher suffering from bullying, a couple on the verge of divorce, and a youngster giving up on his dreams of playing baseball. None of these characters' struggles matter much to anyone beyond their closest associates. But by showing that in personal difficulties, anyone can find help from strangers, the old men create a sense of community, and in the process, become passionate cheerleaders for it.

The seemingly microscopic grassroots actions, helping each distinct individual with their distinct issue, can add up to something revolutionary. In a town where everyone struggles in silence, unaware that help is available when sought out, there is little trust and camaraderie among residents. It is impossible to expect those who would not help one another in time of need to come together in support of any larger initiatives. By trickle by trickle, every incident of mutual support, however trivial it may seem, helps build communal confidence, encouraging residents to imagine, with more mutual support, what other improvements are possible in their community.

It is this grassroots method of building confidence that those who seek to change the world should attend to and leverage. Too often politicians and business leaders seek to implement change in a top-down fashion. New laws and business initiatives, backed by hundreds of specially appointed bureaucrats and white-collar professionals, certainly have their place in declaring the seriousness of change. However, by treating those they seek to change as simply order-takers or worse, obstacles, top-down initiatives alienate entire communities that they seek to improve through targeted changes. 

Instead, returning to the basics of those very intimate person-to-person relationships, built through solving mundane problems that matter little beyond the individuals involved, can smoothen out resistance in ways faraway policies and business models may not. Like the old cheerleaders in the novel, many people seek out a purpose in their lives, marked by raw passions that they feel they must get back. Rediscovering those passions and channeling them to a larger, more community-oriented direction can ensure that they become a help, rather than a hindrance to successfully creating a world-changing movement.