Warning, poorly written.
Our responsibility as activists
I try to do good as an individual, be informed, make good decisions based on that information and my values etc. It seems like other people try to do the same thing too, but I think maybe I have been going about it in the wrong way. I have been trying to be informed across the board and make decisions from my own knowledge and values. Instead, I think maybe I have to find organizations and groups I can trust.
These groups would be the ones who do the footwork for my knowledge gaining and decision making. Ideally they would get the information, filter it and share the most important with me so I can stay up to date along with vouch for certain other organizations and actions which will help forward the cause of that organization and support my own values. That’s a massive responsibility and amount of trust in others, but maybe that will be the way to strengthen the social movements that support these causes. What if everyone who really cared about the environment and focused on it also worked with groups who tried to get social justice and vice-versa; sharing information, teaching and giving recommendations for how to act and what to buy and who to support etc. I’m beginning to wonder if trying to go at everything as individuals is not the way to get the change that some people want, or that I want. Maybe the Occupy Movement was actually onto something in trying to take everything on all at once. Just the needed community, communication and sharing wasn’t there, or wasn’t as strong as it needed to be.
It seems that what activists need is the ability to focus and someone who can then focus all of the other foci in order to cause the change that is wanted, for environmental policy, for justice and everything else. As members of the activist community it seems that we need to not only focus on one specific thing to be able to do good work for it, we also need to make sure to reach out to others and create strong networks with them and take responsibility for the information we share with those others so that they have the right information that allows them to also work on their own focus and help your own important goals too. Maybe it is time we try to see the elephant in the room instead of just our aspect.
Fleeting Thoughts of a Bad Student 