Derek Thompson’s The
Liberal Millennial Revolution proved a few points. His statement is quite
gloomy, “Its here, its coherent, and its doomed, unless young people change
their approach to political reform.” I often wonder if young people will ever
push forward for change with the persistent effort that will make an
everlasting impact. The struggle is never going to end until we all move
forward towards the same goal together, so until then, it seems like there is
only going to be less effort that doesn’t amount to the real change that we
need. If young people are more liberal than their parents, then what does that
tell you? The world has been on the path that humans have steered the
direction. Now many things have come to exist. Although many people may believe
in justice and making a difference in the world, like the author said, “all
throat and no vote.” What else is going to happen based on what we do not do?
TED Talk by Ash Beckham made me think of myself when she
asked the question, “Who am I?” Which made me think, who am I? A mother or an advocate? There have been a few times
where my husband has told me that I can only worry about myself, not about
anyone else. I know he is only trying to help me when I find difficulty in some
areas in life but I don’t think that he fully understands what it is like to be
a student in the School of Social Work. The lens and perspective that I see
through, what I see, what I think, how I see, how I think, what I feel, how I
feel, what I believe, everything is different and I frequently have thought in
the past, how am I supposed to enjoy my
life when there is so much pain and suffering out there? Yes, I understand
that I have to focus on myself and my kids to ensure that I do what I need to
do for us, but sometimes that is hard when I want to advocate for all of the
things that I believe in speaking and standing up for. I also thought it was
nice that the busser that Ash worked with was respectful towards her, how they
respected each other although they had differences. I thought it was really sad
when she talked about how she goes through the experiences of not knowing
whether to keep on holding her girlfriends hand or not when they walk out in
public. I found it inspiring when she mentioned how many things we can hold in
life all at the same time.
Verna Myers TED Talk reminded me how violence continues and
victims are often the ones who are blamed. I wonder will the world ever be a
place that is open to black men? We need to teach kids how to respect
themselves and others because without respect, our world will burn to the
ground with all of this discrimination. Kids need to learn and understand that
we share this world with others who are not only the same but different from
each and every one of us.
Clint Smith quoted MLK which has been one of my favorite, "In the end, we will remember not the
words of our enemies but the silence of our friends." This means a lot to
me because it is true, silence is consent. Consequences of silence manifest in
the form of oppression which is one of the things that really needs to change
in all places of the worlds, homes, stores, schools, job places, everywhere. I
love how he said that, “all you ever needed is your voice.” Sometimes I feel
like I cannot put my voice to the best of use because I am really nervous and
shy but deep down inside, I know and feel the urge for speaking out for what is
right, and I intend to practice becoming better at that.
A lot of what you have pointed out this week really resonated with me too. Like you, I am very shy, and that can sometimes make it extremely hard to advocate and speak up when we need to. I’ve also been thinking a lot recently about how remaining silent can further the harmfulness of a situation, and we are constantly having to make choices like described by Ash Beckham. I was grateful that she pointed out that complexity of duality but how important it is to advocate both for yourself and for others. When you mentioned the thought you often have about enjoying your life with so much suffering around us, I think I understand exactly how you feel! Sometimes it seems that no matter where I go or what I’m doing, I see something oppressive or discriminatory happening, and it can honestly be exhausting. However, I think that perhaps this is not a bad thing, but rather that our constant awareness of such things can be beneficial to furthering what we care about in social work. While it is absolutely critical that we are able to intervene when something blatantly wrong is happening in front of us, I’ve also been thinking that perhaps for people who are shy like us, we can use our voice in different ways. There is a girl in one of my classes who wears politically provocative shirts almost every day, so her message is clear but she is not disturbing any peace. I think subtleties like that are also useful.
ReplyDeleteCatherine, your blog post was great and I relate to many of the points you made. Martin Luther King’s quote, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends,” which Clint Smith referred to in his TED Talk, also really impacted me. All of the articles and readings assigned for this week encouraged people to share their stories, which can lead to both personal empowerment and social change. A fellow student in one of my social work classes said that ignoring an issue and being silent about it is a privilege. I see so many injustices daily that I never speak up about because they do not directly affect me. Instead of enjoying this privilege and staying silent, I should instead use this privilege to take a stand for those who are suffering. I appreciate that Ash Beckham encourages people to ask, “Who am I?” Asking myself this question lead me to a follow up question of “Who do I want to be?” I realized through these questions that I am not sharing enough about what I am passionate about and taking action for change, and this not who I want to be. Although I cannot save the world and help all people in need, I am eager to invest my time in one or two causes that I truly care about, tell others the stories of these injustices, and be a catalyst for positive change.
ReplyDeleteCatherine, I completely agree with your sentiments regarding your spouse. I try to explain my perspective to my family members and my boyfriend but I never feel like they truly understand. It can be hard to enjoy unnecessary things, which we love, when working with so much loss and need. When Ash talked about the busser who had such a different life, I thought of my time in the service industry. I worked with so many different people and I was able to become friends with people I thought I had nothing in common with. In regards to introducing kids to discrimination, I think we should think of it more as an introduction to diversity. Showing kids how great the world can be when we accept difference. This is not to say that we should shelter them from discrimination, just that we have to show them both sides of the coin. In a lot of the blogs I read this week, a common response to Clint Smith was that speaking out was right but difficult. I am interested in how we can overcome this barrier among social workers. We have an important voice and we can be such effective communicators when we act.
ReplyDeleteI often find myself thinking about how powerless I am in the scheme of things. Politics are definitely in turmoil. My friends have the same position on it that I do. A bigot, who we would never dream to have the privilege of running our country, is. It seems pretty apocalyptic... So, we share this mentality where we’re hesitant to waste precious time and do anything about this turmoil; because, there is a chance that nothing will come of it. So, do we take this risk? Is our future or our children’s future important enough to gamble with? It is amazing to think that the majority of our generation is very liberal and operates off of the same belief system of general equality. However, we also operate similarly in our efforts to change our current circumstances. Most of us kind of back up and walk away when there is a problem at hand. This is the easiest thing to do, for now. But, this reproduces the very thing that we wish to escape from. So, we are left with the choice to act or not act.
ReplyDeleteSilence is definitely consenting.
So, as we go through our careers, as we interact throughout our day, we must always refer back to our moral compass and to our social justice lens. Once an advocate, always an advocate! Silence will fail us; we must be bold in taking back the dignity and humanity of our neighbors. Awesome post! Great perspective!