Activism to scale

The scale and volume of my activism shifts over time. I started out as an unknown, individual mom with a message or two I was eager to share. Now I wrestle with all sorts of issues that bring to mind "be careful what you wish for."

I have to share what a friend said to me recently:

"... just trying to react to everything will burn you out. I have full time, paid staff and we still work flat out to cover everything. The key matrix to analyze your question therefore would be: does it help the MISSION? The upside of protest is obvious and virtuous but the downside would be increased marginalization of your influence...I am sure you will make the right decision."

The decision? Whether or not to pitch a fit over an offensive cartoon involving parents and eating disorders that was published in a professional newsletter in the eating disorders field.*** Worth the fight? I've decided it isn't. But mostly because of the laughing fit I got from how my friend managed to make me feel empowered to leave the issue alone - mad interpersonal skilz there!

Comments

  1. Just hiss at it. It wasn't drawn by a certain doctor from a small European country was it?

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  2. I think this is a good lesson for both activism and life - pick your battles. You don't want to wear yourself down just trying to fight the good fight. I think that it's all about self-care. We can't be much good to anyone else if we're too strained and stressed ourselves.

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  3. If you send it to the hissing team, we can all bad karma it for a while.....

    ReplyDelete

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