One

On December 1, 1955, Rose Parks was seating on a bus-seat secluded for blacks. The driver demanded that she relinquish her seat to a white passenger. Parks refused and her subsequent arrest and trial for this act of civil disobedience triggered the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

It was one of the largest and most successful mass movements against racial segregation in history, and launched Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the organizers of the boycott, to the forefront of the civil rights movement.

Her role in American history earned her an iconic status in American culture. Her actions have left an enduring legacy for civil rights movements around the world.

We insist that ‘an individual cannot make a difference’. Rosa Parks taught a significant lesson: the power of one… the power of individual initiative. She did not wait for people to join. She had the courage to stand up for what she believed in.

Anyone can swim with the tide. It requires conviction and character to move against the tide. However she did not rest with individual action. She moved beyond to involve and consolidate the collective. The power of one increases with the addition of other ‘ones’.

But the onus is on the first one to take the first step. It may seem insignificant but when one stands for the right value, we add meaning and purpose to our life. We must own up to the aligned action that we know is for human good.

One does not remain a solitary intention
when collective gets together into action

~ Pravin K Sabnis