Nanine McCool! What an apropo name! She is a remarkable model of perseverance! She kept her cool when the heat rose! She paid $3000 to attend this gigantic “Power Within” event, with thousands in the audience invested in this charismatic guru, and she knew the MeToo Movement had her back. She knew the MeToo Movement is bigger than him, the teacher, the coach. She must have known this deep within to PEACEFULLY persevere and PROACTIVELY illuminate the positive message that was getting lost in the allegation that it is a “victim” movement, high on the “drug of significance.” Robbins unwittingly and quite beautifully illustrated the resistance the MeToo Movement is up against when he cut her off, presuming her, a stranger amidst thousands, to be someone with something so “insignificant’ to say that he could use her to illustrate his point. He also unknowingly and beautifully illustrated the power dynamics the MeToo Movement is up against with that exercise. Still…SHE PERSISTED and SPOKE her TRUTH which is what it is about. The humiliation and shame of violation SHUTS DOWN SPEECH, silencing and isolating the wounds to slowly cut off the oxygen of life. The MeToo Movement is BREAKING THE SILENCE and connecting women to eachother, to their truth. The example he used to illustrate his point was threatening but it did not threaten the movement which is clearly bigger than his “power to influence millions.”
Ultimately, we ALL (men and women) need to know others have our back don’t we? Without it, the truth gets locked in dark hidden places and drives thousands, men and women, to attend an event with a charismatic giant to learn the secrets of unlocking the power within.
We, of course, need to acknowledge that there is always an operating shadow side to absolutely everything and the MeToo Movement is not the exception. We know that many have been swiftly destroyed. Daily in fact. Truth and reconciliation with humility and transcendent tolerance was modeled by South Africa’s Nelson Mandela. The power of collective peaceful protest creating change was modeled by Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. May we strive to learn how to discern when power is drawing from bullying, threatening, and destroying lives, reputations and careers unnecessarily, unhesitatingly. May we know the difference between vengeance and pursuit of healing. May we have checks and balances against ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY about what is good and bad, who are the good ones and who are the bad ones, what is true and what is false. May we strive to discern and contain when fame, sensationalism, ratings and PR campaigns contaminate progress. May we strive to pause and listen, learn, and tolerate all angles of a story to understand our humanity. May we always leave room for redemption.