It's not hard.

[mmonk]

I've heard people watching various protests springing up asking "what's the message?". I've even heard pundits say "what are they going to do to change things? Are they going to vote?" I'm pretty sure the majority of these people vote. People with enough passion to get out and march or picket a building surely have enough about them to simply vote every two years. Piece of cake. I've also watched as politicians watch warily wondering what this means for them. I'm sure they are checking their political "professionals" about what to say if asked about the situation, how to waffle or how to get the protesters interested in their campaign without affecting with the campaign's message of pretending to represent everyone without offending some their campaigns are after outside the hopes and dreams of those protesting. But this time, the politicians are mostly on the outside looking in.

If you want change and be on the right side of history, you can't be a spectator waiting to see which way the wind blows. You're not going to get the change we need as a people sending emails or calling switchboards to reach your representatives. That's been tried so much but change in the people's favor hasn't taken hold. Did Gandhi write a letter to Buckingham Palace saying how unfair things were? While that doesn't hurt, it most often doesn't change things enough to erase injustice. One needs to walk the walk.

It's not really that difficult to participate if you are able. Over the course of this past year alone, I have been to worker and environmental protests in various locations including outside my home state. Maybe it is something you can do in the course of what you do for a living. Maybe it's something you can do when you visit someone. Maybe it's something you can do on your day off. But it is something you can do or at least convince someone to be your proxy when you can't. In the meantime, those fighting for you will continue to do so until you can join them. But don't let them do it all for you. It's your future. There's no time left for cynicism.