I’m 25 and I’m jaded. Not in the romanticized Tumblr sense of the word— most mornings I wake up and look at how much of the world is on fire and truly wonder what the hell I’m supposed to do about it and where to begin. It’s exhausting— and my privilege shields me from nearly every aspect of injustice in this country so I can’t even imagine what it’s like to live under those injustices. Nevertheless, they exist and so I fight, in whatever means I can.
The more I’ve worked in the nonprofit space, the more I’ve come to realize that it will be the bravery of individuals coming forward who will be the initiators of change. We’ve seen it with every major movement throughout history and we are seeing it now. But there’s a lot of work that needs to be done and many more people need to step up before we get there. As Americans, we have a habit of tuning out noise that isn’t immediately in front of us. We may get lit up over an issue but the flame carries only as long as a headline and we are constantly having to rebuild momentum. It is the culture of consumption and the way in which our lives have been sifted into an algorithm that keeps us in a tailspin.
A quick digression: The founders never intended for a majority of people to be able to vote. They were pretty despicable aristocrats who were more interested in the self-preservation of the social elite then they were in promoting democracy. It bothers me every time anyone romantically compares the vision of the founders with an equal and representative republic because that wasn’t their goal. Unless you were a white man who owned property, you were someone else’s property. Let’s just get that clear: The principles of this country were made in such a way that the rich and powerful would always be in a position to protect and represent the rich and powerful.
Fast forward to today where, because of the bravery of individuals coming forward with a vision of a better world, we stand to have more rights, more representation, more autonomy. But we must fight to keep it. We must educate our leaders—whether they be our representatives, our CEOs, our neighbors— that action speaks louder than dark money. We must remind the people in power that they work for us— not the other way around and that, if you choose to act, you can also be an initiator of change. Donate to a nonprofit you think is doing good work, call up your rep, report injustice, register to vote for god’s sake— if we do not step up to act then there will be no change. We cannot be bystanders anymore.