A question for my activist friends...

[pat]

and my friends on the left generally...

How do you avoid despair? How do you not get consumed by the rage?

I find myself sinking into sort of a cynical apathy, that looks at each new outrage and says, "So what else is new?" It's not that I don't care, just that I feel beaten down.

I know that for evil to triumph it only takes good people to do nothing, but how do you keep from that?

Comments

[dangerpudding.livejournal.com]

I track the little victories. I pay attention to the grassroots groups who are winning little local battles all over the place. I take comfort in how many people are paying attention. I take the five minutes to write that e-mail or make that phone call about an issue. I remember that all of us doing our little bit *does* make a difference. I keep track of issues I've put lots of time and energy into in the past (like the Alaskan Native Corporations working on FSC certification for their logging and other forestry related industries and salmon farming - things that are moving in positive directions).

Sadly, I also avoid large parts of the news, because I simply don't have the energy to put into the anger it raises in me.