Activism Revisited

I have been a staunch environmentalist and a peace advocate for my entire life. Long before we reached our current dire global state, I have been recycling and reducing, consuming conscientiously, financially supporting environmental groups, and losing my share of sleep over the state of the world. I have never been radical or extreme in presenting my views but I have always felt that my values have been adequately expressed and endorsed within my school through our many community projects and comprehensive curriculum. I was wrong. I am bewildered and humbled by the number of my students who read my blog and are interpreting my documented opinions as newfound. After over twenty years of teaching my art, how can these values not be obvious to my students?

Before writing that first blog post last November, I was so oblique in expressing my views and values in class that the relevance to their training was completely missed by many of my students. Somewhere along the journey, I lost my way. Activism is the key. All the thought in the world is not worth a hill of beans if it is not acted upon. I have been too passive when expressing my passion.

Chalk up clarity as another added benefit of my journaling efforts.

“Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct.”
- Thomas Carlyle ( 1795 - 1881)