Guerrilla-Driven Change

My great uncle Henri was only 21 when the Gestapo got him.

He had taken refuge in a forest in the east of the country to escape the Obligatory Work Service which would have sent him to a factory somewhere in Poland or Germany. Instead, he got to know the Resistance operating around his hideout, not far from where Champagne is made.

One thing leading to the other, he took part in various missions that sound like achievements from a video game to us now: planting explosives, stopping traffic, transporting weapons, … until someone reported him to the invaders. My brain refuses to imagine too precisely what happened next… the violence, the torture, until the final blast of the rifles.

He was just a kid.

I often think about him, wondering what I would have done, were I facing a similar situation. I’m almost twice his age now, and I’m not sure I would have been half as heroic.

But more recently I started to realise something else:

If you consider his individual actions, or even all the actions of his group, they probably weren’t that big of a deal for the occupying forces. Sure, some freight was a bit delayed, but for such a big organisation, it was probably nothing.

No. What made a big difference in the end is the sum of all the little things. All the women and men who took the same kind of risk Henri did.

I’m not asking you to blow up a bridge every time something needs to change in your country. That’s not it. If you live in a democracy, there are other ways. What I’m saying is that more often than not, we get discouraged to do even the smallest steps because we think they won’t make a difference.

Casting your vote, quitting your job, telling your relatives you love them, taking the train instead of the plane, … in the grand scheme of things, it’s just a bunch of very small actions.

But if enough people vote, a different government is appointed.

If every employee at a bullshit job quits, bullshit jobs ultimately could disappear.

If enough people remind that lonely friend he is loved, he won’t commit the irreparable.

If every one is more conscious of the environment, the planet stays liveable a little longer.

The good news is, we don’t even have to risk our lives in this guerrilla (yet).