Weekly Soul - Week 24: Activism (Craigie)
Today's meditation from Weekly Soul: Fifty-two Meditations on Meaningful, Joyful, and Peaceful Living by Dr. Frederic Craigie.
-24-
I want to pay
tribute to people who have hope, who have always been kind of a minority, who
are called “activists.” “Activist” means what? Someone who does an act. In a
democratic society, you’re supposed to be an activist… you participate. It
could be a letter written to an editor. It could be fighting for stoplights on
a certain corner where kids cross. And it could be something for peace, or for
civil rights, or for human rights. But once you become active in something,
something happens to you. You get excited and suddenly you realize that you
count.
Studs Terkel
In my counseling/consultation work, I
often invite people to talk about what really matters to them. Consistently, I
hear three responses. People often describe spiritual and religious
relationships (“God;” “my faith;” “I’m not religious, but my spirituality is
really important to me”) and family relationships (“loving my wife,” “my
children,” “being there for my aging parents”). The third—it warms my heart to
hear this so regularly—is that people want to make a difference.
- I want to contribute to my
community, give back to my community.
- It’s important for me to care
about people, to help somebody.
- I guess I just want to leave
the world a little better for my having been a part of it.
As I tell groups as I talk about this,
these are not beret-wearing left-wing existentialists from the East Village. They
are regular people, embracing all of the diverse economic, ethnic, and cultural
groups with whom I’ve been privileged to work.
For some people, the urge to make a
difference takes form in activism as we are accustomed to think about it, i.e.
working on behalf of large-scale social and political changes: a hunger strike
for nuclear disarmament, a sit-in at a congressional office, and helping with voter
registration in places with historically-disenfranchised minority communities.
The urge to make a difference takes form
locally, as well. I see activism among my friends and colleagues:
- teaching meditation in a
prison;
- starting a community group to
develop fire preparedness plans;
- serving as a docent at a
nature preserve;
- acting as a court-appointed
special advocate for troubled young people;
- reaching out to invite new
neighbors to dinner;
- attending meetings of the
local planning board;
- preparing meals (and
expressing welcome) at a shelter for asylum-seekers.
And
yes, I think of a friend and colleague, now passed, who advocated for a lower
speed limit in a village setting where children are often present.
As Terkel says, you are an activist if you
act. The scale—the level, the focus—of your acting is less important than the
simple fact that it is an expression of a commitment to human caring and
connection.
In activism, broadly, you find two
benefits. You influence the world, and
“something happens to you.” You come to a greater experience of aliveness
yourself.
Reflection
- Think
of a time when you have been an activist, when you have acted on behalf of
larger or local issues. How do you see this having affected other people? What
was the experience like for you, having done this?
- What
opportunities for activism are out there for you now? Acknowledge for
yourself the courage and devotion that underlie what you are doing now,
and think about new possibilities for you to explore in the days and weeks
ahead.
Author
Louis “Studs” Terkel (1912-2008) was an American writer, a radio and television presence, and a
Chicago-based literary and cultural icon for most of the 20th century. He was
born in New York and moved with his family to Chicago when he was a young
child. In their new home, his parents ran a rooming house that gave Louis the
opportunity to interact with a rich variety of people. He found more colorful
characters in frequent visits to Bughouse Square, an open-air center for free
speech and sidewalk oration. Listening to the breadth of stories in these
places set Terkel on a lifetime path of curiosity about the human experience.
He
graduated from law school—he never practiced law—and took the nickname “Studs”
from the main character of the Depression-era "Studs Lonigan" trilogy
by Chicago writer James T. Farrell. He began working in radio under the
auspices of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Writers' Project and
started a career of hosting radio and television programs in Chicago in 1944. During
the McCarthy era, Terkel was backlisted for unapologetically speaking on behalf
of progressive causes, supporting price and rent controls, opposing Jim Crow
laws, and refusing to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities
Committee. The hiatus in his professional life ended with the opportunity to
move to station WFMT, where he hosted the daily music and interview show, The Studs Terkel Program, from 1952
until 1997.
Terkel’s
career as a writer blossomed in his late 50s, with the publication of a book
based on interviews from his radio programs. This format of turning recorded
conversations into print marked his finest writing over the years since that
time: writing grounded in his unending curiosity about the life experiences of
famous and ordinary people alike. His book of reminiscences about World War II,
The Good War, won the Pulitzer Prize
in 1985.
There is a
searchable archive of over 1200 of Studs’ radio interviews at https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/. This quotation comes from a 2003 interview in the PBS program, Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, about
his book, Hope Dies Last: Keeping the
Faith in Troubled Times.
Book Description:
Keywords:
meditation; reflection; inspiration; miracles; aliveness; purpose; laughter; joy; presence; mindfulness; activism; acceptance; gratitude; forgiveness; creativity; civility; hope; affirmation; wholeness; well-being; mental health; personal growth; transformation; inner peace; personal reflection; joy; joyful living; inspirational quotes; inspirational commentary
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