So, I've been SUPER angry lately. Mostly at people who wield their power over others, including me and my friends, in ways that stop the world from being as awesome as it should be. It's really frustrating to be in a field where passion and advocacy are taught and encouraged, but then when I look to those who hold power over me - administrators, professors, etc. - and see incompetency, or try to advocate for myself, or my friends, to be continually shut down. It's super disheartening, and quite frankly annoying.
As one of my favorite people put it to me today, "If you aren't passionate, go away!" I couldn't think of it any better. I know that it's not by accident that I am passionate about the things I'm passionate about, and that there is a reason for my passions. I've been discouraged recently that despite how passionate I am, I'll never have enough sway or power to do anything about the problems I see in the world. But with an attitude like that, I definitely won't - I defeat myself. Unless those of us who are passionate refuse to let those who have forgotten their passion bring us down, the world will not change. The status quo will not be challenged, and people will continue to be oppressed, forgotten and unloved.
BUT, if we ignite those passions, keep the fire burning, and add fuel so that it spreads beyond the handful of us who are passionate, we just might be able to enact some good in the world, and we just might come to the end of our lives not regretting our efforts. That is why I need to remember the words my role models tell me, to not let the one's who've forgotten bring me to forget, and to not let others' failures lead me to failure, and to pass them onto others, including my peers who may also be experiencing some of the same disillusionment I have been feeling.
You guys, we can do this. Who cares if there's red tape? Who cares if those with more power than us are incompetent? Who cares if we get challenged and shot down? Who cares if we aren't heard at first? WE DO, and that's why it won't always be that way. We care, and we are not going to just sit down and be silenced.
It's going to be hard sometimes.
It's going to suck.
We're going to get angry and cry.
But we're also going to come back fighting, and kick some people in the butt, and bring justice to this mess of a society.
Hang in there friends. We can do this.
