“I don’t think I’m an activist…”
As a volunteer for The Resilient Activist, I have tabled a lot of events in order to spread awareness of our services and programming. After describing TRA’s mission and services to interested folks, I am often met with enthusiastic remarks such as “I’ve been needing this in my life!” and “I can see how this group could benefit me.” However, those same eager people often immediately follow up with “I don’t think I’m an activist, though. Could I still participate?”
People often hear the word “activist” and tend to lean away from it – hesitant to identify as one. Why is that? For many, the word “activist” may spark images of folks marching in the streets, chaining themselves to trees, lying on the ground and posing as a corpse during a “die-in.” They may think that to be an activist, one must participate in these sorts of demonstrations which could be dangerous in several ways. While it is noble and courageous to participate in peaceful protests and nonviolent acts of civil disobedience, it is only one slice of the activism pie.
Doing something. Taking action. Making effort.
First recorded around 1905, the term “activist” can be defined as an especially active, vigorous advocate of a cause. The root of the word: active. Doing something. Taking action. Making an effort. As opposed to being inactive. Doing nothing. Being indifferent, apathetic, disinterested.
The actions and efforts will look and feel different for everybody, because we are all unique human beings with different boundaries.
- You may feel thrilled about the opportunity to handcuff yourself to a bulldozer in order to save an ecologically valuable forest in your community.
- The risk of arrest may deter you, so maybe gathering signatures for a petition to protect the trees is better suited for you.
- Perhaps someone has already started a petition, so you sign it and share it with your circle of peers.
- Maybe a City Council meeting is being held to discuss permits for that stretch of land, so you attend and provide testimony in support of the value of green spaces.
- Public speaking may freak you out – so you send an email to the council members instead.
- While waiting for a response, you could submit a letter to the editor of the local newspaper in support of the habitat, and your writing could be read by hundreds of residents who are inspired to take their own actions.
- You could post about the issue on your social media pages.
- You could spend some time reading about the importance of trees, or listening to a podcast about the impact of green spaces on public health, or watching a documentary about deforestation.
- This could inspire you to plant a tree in your neighborhood.
- Or donate to a reforestation cause.
- Or look closely at the products you consume; wow, my toilet paper was made by a company that causes mass deforestation?? I’m going to switch to a company that makes toilet paper out of recycled textbooks instead.
Any one of those actions qualifies you as an activist. Because you did something. You didn’t turn away.
Activism as a basic human calling
In a recent conversation with a fellow activist peer, we began to discuss the misconceptions about the term. In a matter-of-fact tone, she stated, “I’m not an antagonist, I’m not a contrarian. The reality has brought me here.” Being presented with the reality of the ongoing global crises – from climate change to biodiversity loss to environmental injustice – she simply can’t ignore it. She cares about the future of humanity, she cares about the animals and plants and fungi, she cares about soil and water and air. She doesn’t see it as rebellious or wrong to take action to protect the planet we love. It is necessary. It is vital.
To quote the amazing Kaitlin Curtice1: “In an era in which “activism” and “resistance” are tokenized hot topics, I want to restore these ideas as a basic human calling, one that each of us lives into every day that we fight for Love. No matter who you are or what you “do” in the world, you have a role to play in finding, understanding, and sharing sacredness, and your acts of extraordinary resistance are the truths that hold us all together.”
So yes, The Resilient Activist is for you. If you are a lover of humanity and this beautiful Earth we call home, The Resilient Activist is for you. Regardless of whether you organized a march on Washington D.C. or just decided to switch to a reusable water bottle, the Resilient Activist is for you. Welcome.
This is a three part blog series. Read the next post here: What is resilience?
- Living Resistance: An Indigenous Vision for Seeking Wholeness Every Day by Kaitlin B. Curtice ↩︎
I love what you write here Briana, and the way that draws people in on how important it is just to “do something”. I think it can be very frightening for some people to even wrap their heads around this issue, but with more and more open hearts and minds I think the stigma around activism will recede. It also goes hand in hand I believe with self-care and letting go of self-judgement. For myself rather than thinking about what I am not able to do to, I focus on what I can do, knowing that it is all important. That way I feel hopeful rather than helpless, knowing we are all part of something much bigger than ourselves.
Thank you for this nugget of inspiration and I’m looking forward to part two and three.
Thank you for your comment Maria – I like what you said about focusing on what you *can* do and remembering that every action is important. I have a bad tendency of thinking about what I *can’t* do and making myself feel guilty, but that is something I’ve been working on. The guilt I impose on myself isn’t helpful in any way.