I have time and time again been hearing students in my classes talk about how we can talk and talk, yet none of us are doing anything. At first, comments just annoyed me, but as time passes, and I hear it repeated, I am left with a single question: Why is the quest for understanding and the spread of information through discussion, in order to discover how rhetoric (or any other subject matter) affects an issue such as humanitarian intervention not in itself an action toward solving the problems that have plagued humanitarianism for years?
Am I alone in thinking that my words are my action? How many millions of people around the world are spending their time blogging or writing letters to their congressional representation? Are they in taking those steps not working to solve the problems with which they are concerned? I would say they most definitely are, and so are you…those people who spend their time and resources seeking out information are taking part in these discussions.
I am in no way trying to argue that we should all join in a worldwide debate and nothing more, but that debate, those discussions are a critical part of any further local or global activism. Creation is action. Consumption is action. Thought is action. The strict dichotomy between thought and action which create a world wherein we, as everyday individuals, cannot accomplish anything to help in international humanitarian initiatives. Those separations and strict categories have to be rethought—and thinking about such issues is the first step toward each of us finding a niche and a course of action.
Your thoughts, words, participation, communication…IS your action. In realizing that, there can be more optimism shown toward activism, and consequently, more motivation to act where once grassroots movements toward global problems haven’t existed.
