This Ain't Your Grandma's Social Activism

But, the optimist in me believes that, hey, it's true.  There's a larger culture of kids actually--oh shit!--wanting to do things on a larger scale.  Wanting to evoke passion amongst their peers and make it happen.

I think things were kicked up a proverbial watt when father-to-the-cutest-dog-in-the-world (Bo Obama)--was named president.  Suddenly, it was cool again to be invested in your community and in your own niche.  And I mean, maybe the hipster clothing aesthetic is still going strong with the younger generation (thanks, Lil' J), the apathy and vapidness of their culture seems to be falling to the wayside.  And thank goodness for that!

I, too, was changed by 2008 election.  Throughout my college career I found myself very invested and involved in the do-goody side of things.  I was an RA, I was involved in charity and volunteer projects, and educating people on ways they could help and what is going on in the world.  And now, music will always be my passion, but I can't help but wonder if this is where I should be right now--in the trenches or using my voice to get things out there, to help educate people on all that is going on in the world.  No bullshit, no pretension, no belittling.  Maybe.

It's hard, I think.  Most people my age have a million things running through their heads.  We are so easily invigorated and impassioned because we have gone our lives without these things, without this desire and certainly not with other people telling us it's cool to feel this way.  So we, the idealists, with our grandiose ideas of changing the world and helping the planet and everything, person, plant & animal in between...we show up spinning.  Our heads drowning in ideas, swimming in a whirlpool of enthusiasm and plans.  We have so many plans in our heads!  These ideas--so big and so great!--and we get overwhelmed.

I think that's where these youth-centric, pro-social change campaigns come in & they work.  They bring kids in and have spokespeople that are recognizable and/or inspiring, and it keeps the wheels greased and turning.  And, most importantly, provides the platforms for these kids to succeed and for change to happen.

And it's not just these big ideas; change can start at home.  It's the only place it CAN start--Mister President has shown us that by leading the way in Organizing for America.  And you see it, it works!  My place of work--a company that employs thousands upon thousands of people--organized a great thing on MLK day for volunteering at a school on the UWS.  I think that's inspiring--people went in on their day off and volunteered.  And they did it again a few weeks ago--a day off in exchange for utilizing that day for positive change in our communities.  And, by golly it worked!

Not only that but the way in which the world is connected now, people have so many new outlets to understand the world, and to connect with the stories of those in need.  I mean, come on, you're reading this blog, on the internet, that--once I am finished writing--I will post on facebook, tweet about on twitter, and hopefully will be cross-posted and digg'd or liked or what-have-you!  It takes armchair activism to another level (I think I should copyright that saying because I think I just made it up), but also creates that one more chance for someone else to see it and build on it.  How else do you think young people got so enraged about the atrocities going on in Darfur (because we sure as hell know no one was reporting on it consistently, and good ole GWB wasn't saying SHIT about it)?!  We're all so interconnected and unintentionally stalkerish that it's actually working to our advantage in helping to learn about the world outside of our own personal space bubbles.  And thank goodness for that (I can finally blame my accidental stalker tendencies on the desire to do good)!

There are a lot of small pebbles rolling down the hill, and I think that these pebbles could come together and trigger an avalanche of good things in this world.  And I am really excited that my generation might be the ones to champion it.

I'm feeling very jazzed on all of this, can you tell?  It's all the commas.  But I think this is all good.  This is all very, very good.