I often believe that when inspiration comes it can hit you in the face harder than a blow from Flyod Mayweather JR and you act on it, wondering why it took you so long to realise.
For me it was on Monday night, I watched a screening of a documentary called 'My Neighbourhood' created by the team at Just Vision. The film looks at the civil unrest between Israel and Palastine and the settlers claiming peoples homes in the name of religion- a deep watch for a Monday eve but what a wake up call.
I went home and managed to draw a line in the sand with the few people in my life I have felt negativity towards because if the truth be known, what a waste of energy it is to be unhappy with anyone. I would not change what has happened, even if I could- seems like a cheap remark but every experience shapes the person we are and the person we become. That is not always the person we want to be so things like this allow you to get yourself back on track. Plus I have the great part of my life where all my experiences can be reflected on when I portray a character, its just nice to be able to differentiate between those days when I am acting and using the memories and those days when I just seem to let things play on mind...
God only knows why I am wide awake at 3.45am, and I'll pay for that later that's for sure... 'Michael Sani - Actor' hmmm, so when is this break coming? When will I discover that role that will propel my career? You tell me. Do I honestly still believe in the fact that I am an actor and its a career path for me? Hell yeah! But until then I have another mission on my hands- one that has many ups and downs but is the most rewarding thing I have ever done- of course I am talking about Bite the Ballot and the journey of engaging young people in politics, another one of those 'how has this happened questions' but after 25 months of actively working on this project I tend to justify my involvement more as 'I didn't choose it, it chose me'.
Even today, well yesterday, I got stopped on Carnaby Street by a chap named Gabriel who was promoting the work of Shelter. We ended up talking about what I do and he genuinely seemed impressed and excited but still said "but it's all f**ked, I admire what you do but I fear its a waste of time" to which I replied "how can you say that? You have to believe in change because if you don't then what do you live for? The women that campaigned and died before the right to vote was given to them, they must of been told that nothing would ever change, yet they continued and many of them never saw the change, but it happened. How many black people in South Africa died fighting for the right to vote and never saw it given to them? But changed happened"
In my life time we may not see a democracy made up of people that can emotionally relate to some of the decisions they make, or a parliament that reflects the people we have living in the UK but it may be said, one day, that all the efforts by so many people and organisations today set the ball rolling for the future generations and that is why I do what I do- if I can throw a couple of films in there too then great!
