Warranting a separate blog post is a personal journey I witnessed whilst I was in Moscow that has truly inspired me. I’d like to share it in the hopes that it will illustrate the human potential for transformation and inspire others too.
Matt Perkins is my partner. We are two very different people, and one of these differences has been our attitudes towards global issues and activism. When we first met, Matt was skeptical about activism and didn’t really understand why people did it. He also questioned what difference the actions of one person could make. It should also be noted that is very stubborn and does not change his mind lightly! This was why I was so surprised and a little skeptical myself when he told me back in September that he wanted to come to Moscow pride with me.
At first, his attitude was that the pride event would take less than a day, and that the rest of the time there we could dedicate entirely to sightseeing together. He didn’t understand how much planning and coordination would be involved with the event, nor how dangerous it could be. But he began to read about it online. He was shocked and interested. He read more and more and began to get very worried by the event itself, and our discussions over the the weeks running up to our departure became weighted much more towards the Pride than they had been. He wanted to be there to protect me and make sure I didn’t put myself in any danger.
When Matt and I arrived in Moscow, one of the most amazing things for me was to see the changes that were happening in him. He was there getting involved in the discussions that I thought he wouldn’t be interested in, advocating his points of view. In the end he couldn’t take part in the event itself because he took the difficult decision that his recovering broken leg made him a liability out in the field. He instead stayed at the safe house with Andy Harley and provided support in helping to contact foreign embassies when international activists were arrested. He was also very supportive of me both before and after the pride, putting aside his own feelings about what would be safest for me and letting me do what I had to do in going out to participate in the Pride. It was extremely hard for him to let me go out there alone even though it terrified him. He had wanted to be there with me to protect me all along, but he had put the greater needs of the Pride event above that. That was something I had never expected he would be willing to do.
And it was the three days prior to the 28th that had led him to be able to let me do that so willingly. I could see on his face just before we headed out into the line of fire that he was in awe of what people were putting themselves up against that day. He has gained a new found respect for activists of all types. The battles that went on inside his mind over those five days and the way he overcame the mental challenges he faced, are what inspired me the most. He did things that were not at all natural for him personally to do. I can only imagine what it must have been like for him as he fully admitted to me afterwards that he had found himself out of his depth. Still, he did not run away or deviate from what he knew was right even when that was not the easiest course of action he could have taken.
I just want to wish him congratulations and to thank him. He has said how much he wants to do more to advocate change in the world and I’m really looking forward to seeing what he does next and to supporting him in that in whatever way I can.
petergray1989 