I have seen courage. It comes in odd shapes. Rarely, if ever, does it look like Clint Eastwood makes it look. For he's a wiley pro who knows what we think we're looking for.
No, courage comes when ordinary people are exposed to awfulness and act like humans in the face of it.
It was the case last night (3-23-12) at InnerMission's production of the MENding Monologues.
The story of the movement is as courageous as the men who performed last night, to say the least. As is usual in society a woman spoke up first. Eve Ensler had basically seen enough violence done to women and decided to do something about it.
As luck would have it, Eve Ensler is a brilliant writer and her courageous step (what, if anything can one person do in the face of overwhelming awfulness?) lead to more steps and, well, a movement.
Then Derek Dujardin did something equally courageous (and maybe more so because men are raised to be stoic in the face of just about everything). He called bullshit on men sitting idly by as the Vagina Monologues were performed, on men getting away with telling rape jokes and, really, men getting away with rape. Really, the statistics are staggering.
Ask the men of InnerMission's The MENding Monologues. They put those statistics up there for everyone to see. Along with a bunch of excellently-wrought soul searching, a bunch of great words and, both my favorite and least favorite moment, the legal names of all 19 people who knew what Jerry Sandusky was up to at Penn State and did nothing.
Nineteen men associated with the scandal. Big men. Well respected men. Athletes. Strong.
But not courageous.
No, my friends were courageous. They stood up there. Spoke from the heart and the gut and called bullshit and basically made everyone cry. And it was very cool.
Hopefully the people in the audience will go home from last night's experience and think twice before letting someone get away with... a joke at the expense of women, the maltreatment of women, children and other men and maybe rape and violence will cease to exist.
Oh, and the Vagina Monologues is probably just as good. I'm seeing that tonight.
Tet your tickets at: http://innermissionproductions.org/
