Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Having the right line

"It felt like the difference between one or two drops in an otherwise empty bucket."
- Jonathan Smucker, Hegemony How-To 

I think I've been struggling the last couple months with my identity as an "activist". What should I be doing as an environmental activist? How should I be being as an environmental activist?

In a country where Donald Trump can be elected President and fill his cabinet with vocally short-term-thinking stooges of the fantastical promises of free market capitalism, what do I have to say that's worthwhile for another to read?

Tonight my inspiration to write comes from the same book referenced above, Hegemony How-To:
"It felt as if having the right line about everything was more important than making measurable progress on anything."
I don't know what the most effective actions are that I can take to curb the trajectory with which we're heading into the future: a future of continued, rapid degradation of Earth's ecosystems and communities as a result of exploitative economic practices and policies that put profits before Life.

But I do know that a better future is possible, and even the quietest whisper of an inner calling to work toward that future is worth answering: speaking up even if I haven't thought of the right line to use yet.

Maybe the verse below speaks to more than just me tonight:
"But Moses said to God, 'Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?'"


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