Torn...
There are so many things that I'm passionate about, that I care about, that I worry about, that I don't know where to stop. I can speak up, or act, or question...but I can only do so much. So where do you draw the line between not doing enough and doing too much? What if helping a situation, or fighting for a cause, puts you in danger...should you do it? Does it depend on the cause? What if you know that saying or doing something to help a situation will not do anything to change the situation, but to say or do nothing would make you feel hypocritical or complicit?
I know those are a lot of unanswerable questions, but that's basically the point I'm at in my life. I want to fight the good fight, I want to help the cause (whatever cause that is...from the environment to civil rights, I have so many), but I'm begining to feel increasingly like a spent battery. I'm begining to realize that I'm just "one man". At the same time, if we're all just individuals and therefore can accomplish nothing, why even bother? So, where does that leave me? It leaves me at a place where I can't find a good balance between waging a war for the greater good and staking a claim for myself. It's a false dilema, and I realize that as I type it, but I don't want to face the harsh reality that I could do more if I were willing to, if I had the courage to, or if I were a stronger man.
I know those are a lot of unanswerable questions, but that's basically the point I'm at in my life. I want to fight the good fight, I want to help the cause (whatever cause that is...from the environment to civil rights, I have so many), but I'm begining to feel increasingly like a spent battery. I'm begining to realize that I'm just "one man". At the same time, if we're all just individuals and therefore can accomplish nothing, why even bother? So, where does that leave me? It leaves me at a place where I can't find a good balance between waging a war for the greater good and staking a claim for myself. It's a false dilema, and I realize that as I type it, but I don't want to face the harsh reality that I could do more if I were willing to, if I had the courage to, or if I were a stronger man.
posted by Adam at 2:45 PM
3 Comments:
Adam, I may have told you before about what a professor of mine said to close an International Politics class. He was addressing the dark and depressing nature of the subjects we'd studied all semester, and he said that in the face of all of it we have an obligation to be happy. With such urgent problems, cynism and despair are luxuries.
Maybe we can't fight for every single cause we feel passionate about. Maybe it's best,then, to pick pursuit that brings you the most personal joy, because that's the effort you will be able to sustain.
Ditto that.
Keep doing what you're doing Adam, it helps, and you've got lots of people willing to help you out.
Unsure of exactly how to respond, I think I'll just leave it at "you're not alone."
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