This week, in the wake of Jesse Jackson’s passing, I heard a familiar metaphor that I had not known to attribute to him.
Reverend Jackson described our nation not as a single woven cloth, but as a patchwork quilt. Many patches. Many colors. Many histories. Held together by a common thread.
For years, during the Blue Roads season of my work, our guiding phrase has been:
“Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World.”
That language was not accidental. It came from the same conviction Jackson articulated so clearly. We do not live in a world of matching fabrics that fit together neatly. We live among distinct pieces, shaped by different histories, cultures, temperaments, and callings.
A quilt’s beauty, like its usefulness, is captured by the diversity it embodies.
Each square is arranged with intention. Each patch keeps its own fabric and its own story. The strength comes not from blending into one indistinguishable surface, but from being stitched together with appreciation for its origins.
Blue Roads sought grounded responses to change within our shared patchwork reality. The work now continues as the nonprofit ChangemakerYOU, but the imagery has evolved to include what happens INSIDE each individual patch.
With the Piecework™ Model, we are tending to all the pieces and parts of ourselves. In this work, we are seeking to find the inner peace and inner power that make us able to contribute to the outer peace and collective power represented by the larger patchwork quilt.
When we connect in this way, we wrap every one of us up in the warm embrace created with the dignity and respect each one of us deserves.
Rest in peace and power, good human. Thank you for your work to make the world a better place.
keeping my hopes up,
p
