On doing my part

Activism can be defined in many ways, but all of them include words such as promote, campaign, effort and change. All these words hide within them the fundamentals of caring. To care is to feel concern, to attach something with importance and to take care of someone’s needs. 

We have a long history of activist movements that have led to social, political and economical change. Sometimes they come out of plain curiosity. Sometimes they hide deeper purposes or even personal motives. Sometimes they are utopically idealistic. But at all times start when people start caring; for something different rather than their needs, for a vulnerable group, for the environment. 

Then this one voice joins many others like minded and then it just gets easier to succeed. But what happens if this voice never meets others? Does it mean it was wrong all the way or is it a sign to mute? Exactly the opposite. And that is the core of activism.

When you walk the street, you can either just walk where you are going, or you can start noticing the small details on your right and left, up and down. And if you simply start looking at some point you will also start watching and if someday something  -just the smallest part of the routine- is changed, then you will start acting. And if you wish to change something you don’t like in that routine, you will start acting. Because that is the moment you have started caring. Without even noticing.

An activist is exactly that. The person who cares and the person who never stops until other people start caring as well. In the complexity of this world, we need more people who care; just to pick that litter from the street, to strike for the climate, to organise a collective action, to just take the first step. Either they go big or just in their local communities, we need them. And if you are the only voice, do not mute yourself. We need you, too. 

This article was inspired by the Youth Activism Lab, taking place today under the Digital Energy Forum of the European Youth Parliament. 

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