At any rate, I'm continuing with the series on how to survive Whac-a-Mole Activism.
Today's strategy is: Do Your One Good Thing!
I know I'm not the only one who feels like for every Call To Action (CTA) I participate in there are ten more CTAs filling my In Box. You can't do them all. That's true even with Urgent, Critical, and MUST DO NOW actions. And as we remind ourselves that the Resistance is not a sprint but a marathon, it's even more important to pace ourselves.
Remember that while we can win a few skirmishes over next two years (and if we're lucky we might even get an impeachment or resignation), real change won't come unless we make some major changes to Congress in 2018 and then again in 2020. For those of us hoping for even deeper societal change, it's going to take even longer.
So how do you prepare for long haul activism? My advice is to do your One Good Thing.
When I was in college, I had a coach who gave me some advice that has stuck with me to this day: Do your One Good Thing to the best of your ability. No matter how small you might think that One Good Thing is, if you do it as well as you can, you are helping the team. Maybe your One Good Thing is showing up to practice on time. Then be the best at showing up to practice.
This idea struck me as particularly relevant during the women's march when so many of us wore hand-crafted pink hats. I happen to know a fair number of crafty folks, and as the march approached and the pink hat movement got traction, there emerged a bit of a cottage industry from crafty women who were able to share their knitting/crocheting skills with those of us who are less crafty. There even came to be a Pussyhat Project whose mission was to provide hats to marchers and to provide a way for people who could not attend a march to be represented. And that's the thing. Some people are great at marching. Some people are great at knitting. We all have at least One Good Thing that we can do.
So that's your marching (or knitting) orders today. Think about what your One Good Thing might be and seek out ways to do it. Here are some ideas:
- Open your home for a once-a-month advocacy group meeting
- Make one call every day
- Paint signs for marches/protests
- Stand at a corner/bridge once a week with a sign
- Make a website for your advocacy group
- Run for office
- Start a book group focused on reading books on progressive issues
- Write postcards every day
- Donate money to organizations
If you've got time and energy to do more than One Good Thing, that's great, but so long as you are doing something, trust that your efforts are helping. This is a mass movement and everyone's contribution is important.
My One Good Thing happens to be writing and researching, hence this blog. I've gotten some feedback and am factoring that in to what I post. I'm told that some folks really liked the post where I gave an overview of the week's activities. I'll strive to put that one up on Sundays. One of my followers asked that I include links when I am quoting other posts, so I will do that. I'm also going to try to vary the length of the blog posts and have some of them be straightforward CTAs while others are longer, philosophical messages like this post.
Please share this blog as you see fit. The link is public. I'm trying to figure out how to set it up so you can subscribe to it, but apparently my One Good Thing does not include that particular skill. Feel free to offer suggestions for future posts and feedback on stuff I've put up, and please let me know if you notice typos.
Yours in Solidarity!
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