Why Velvet Evolution? Or, Why Velvet Revolution?

American Revolution, French Revolution, Cultural Revolution. Glorious revolution, bloody revolution…velvet revolution?

In December 29 of 1989, after 41 years of communist rule, the people of Czechoslovakia won back their country. Not so remarkable, in the midst of so many revolts and revolutions that year. But this revolution happened peacefully, without bloodshed. Hundreds of thousands of citizens had protested and demonstrated for a solid week in November, until one by one, the communist leadership resigned. No tanks or guns, just opposition movements, closed theaters and relentless protests. It has been named the “Velvet Revolution.”

But can any revolution really be "velvet"? If a revolution is a " dramatic and wide-reaching change in the way something works or is organized," can it ever be peaceful? And if we are all dependent on the past, then any violence in the past that has led to a revolution is also part of the revolution. The final stages of the revolution may have been bloodless, but what about four decades of oppression, violently suppressed demonstrations and countless imprisonments of dissidents? And isn't there more to peace than non-violence? Then what about the turmoil of uncertainty as Czechoslovakia began to assert its independence, wondering if their homeland would finally be their's again? Even if no guns were fired, this revolution was not peaceful.

Is a revolution within us ever velvet? I could very well be transformed by my experience this summer. But even if I accept those changes peacefully (a big if), will I have truly had a "velvet revolution"? Because for every time that I accept change with grace and poise, there have been fifty times that change meant destruction, and I found it because I feared it.

If I am able to accept the uncertainty of teaching while I am a learner, and guiding while I am a traveler, then I thank God. But while God does promise transformation, new life, evolution, I have not seen where God told us these things would be velvet.

And yet, we have "the peace that passes understanding." The change God calls for in us is violent and sometimes bloody, rarely velvet. But there is still peace.

Maybe "peaceful revolution" isn't such a contradiction after all.