Dear Phyllis and all,
Phyllis, thank you for participating in the Singer protest. I appreciate your
willingness to be arrested for that cause. I hope that I can learn from your
example and your strength.
I think, though, that there's another way to look at the activism issue. It
seems like activism can take many forms and that from the outside looking in on
someone else's experience, it might be difficult to know what they can and cannot
do and what they consider activism in their life. Some folks have just enough
energy (physical and mental) and just enough time to be good advocates for family
and self. I suspect that we all go through stages in our lives when we can and
cannot be involved in protests that lead to arrests, etc. There probably are
many reasons for these phases but I'll bet they're often related to constraints
or other commitments in our lives: children/family members who need us present,
impairments that prevent or interfere with certain activities (my depression, for
example, can be quite constraining at times and I must carefully manage my
environmental stress), jobs that cannot be missed, selves that must be tended
to. I'm sure my list isn't exhaustive.
Can we find ways to value everyone's contributions and accept that we will all
contribute differently but to the best of our "ability"? Susan Gabel
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