Activism and Culture

What is it about liberal arts universities that turn most graduates into bleeding hearts who want to save the world instead of using the degree they just went hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to obtain? Unless you’re burned out on substances, blacked out by alcohol, bleached out by the sun, or are one of those students who never took her head out of her chemistry book, you come out of college more aware of the world. This is especially true if you’re a liberal arts major, if you’re getting a degree in something like English, Political Science, Psychology, or some kind of field that requires the study of current events and ethics. But even if we find ourselves more aware of the world around us on the day that we turn our tassels and the cheap diploma holder that will house our significantly expensive paper when the records department decides to fax it to us six to eight weeks later, why do we think we have to bleed in order to make everyone else whole?

Why was I, a college graduate with several successful work-from-home businesses, sitting alongside another recent college grad, a lawyer, and two professional teachers in orientation for a $9/hour job that could end up putting our health and our reputations at risk. Why?

Because, as Crosby, Stills, and Nash would day, “you can change the world.”

We rush out of college with our eyes open to the poverty, famine, and ill-treatment of others and we think we have to fix it right away, even if that means hurting ourselves. While I can respect professionals who work as teachers when they could have been lawyers and corporate executives who take unpaid time off to teach English in Africa, all of us that want to follow Crosby, Stills and Nash’s advice have to realize that we can’t help others by hurting ourselves. We can’t rationalize working for companies that don’t treat us well and starving ourselves so that others can eat. Remember that word from general psych? That’s called enabling. If we don’t stand up and say, treating workers and volunteers this way is wrong too, we’re part of the problem, not part of the solution.

365 Day Activism: a great book. We can change the world one day at a time. For some, that means joining the peace corps or Americorps right out of college. For others, it means running a profitable business until enough to start a special project is raised, but whether it’s the National Guard, Americorps, or a teacher’s union, we college grads in the philanthropic field need to stand up for our rights so that we can save others’ rights, so that we can show the world that it is NOT OK for people to be treated poorly in their work or volunteer environments just because those environments deal with important social issues.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of watching Arctic Tale in the middle of the park on the town square in my Chicago Suburbs home. It was a clear night, lightning bugs landing on my big baby belly and my husband and I sharing a popcorn while dozens of kids, unable to concentrate on the movie, ran back and forth in front of the screen. The film was a terrifically accessible piece on the effects of global warming, but one line really stood out to me in the midst of all the kids and the bugs and the trains: “one death has saved the lives of many.”

Now, we might not be dying for our causes. Some of us might. I don’t know that part. But one instance of activism, one instance of standing up for our rights can save the rights of many. So, the next time we think about being trampled on in the name of humanity, maybe we should consider what being trampled on would do for others. If we follow the golden rule, we need to stand up for our rights.

One act of activism can save the rights of many, so let’s not be gentle, college graduates with bleeding hearts. Let’s take a tip from Crosby, Stills, and Nash and save the world by standing up for ourselves.

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