COVID-19 warning
I thought that The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear was such a great way to end this course and the semester given the state of our world right now. The question that the woman asked at the Spirituality and Ecology conference in 1998, “‘I want to do something, but what can I do? I’m just one person, an average person. I can’t have an impact,” is a question I think a lot of us Jepson students think all the time. Danusha Veronica Goska’s essay, “Political Paralysis,” was a reminder that even the “unnoticed” and “insignificant” actions altogether, can make a huge impact on the world and the people around us. In leadership studies, we don’t only focus on famous leaders like political figures, monarchs, and social justice warriors. We learn that we are in charge of our own actions and choices and through our education, we can work together to make informed and collective impacts. I know this is somewhat cliché, but we see this exact mentality given the current pandemic being so important. If we are social distancing, staying home, and supporting small businesses and healthcare workers–for those that have the privilege to do so–we know that we can contribute to slowing the spread of COVID-19. Although we are each one person in the 300,000+ million in the U.S., it does in fact matter.
This essay also made me think about the power of integrity and how not all actions need to be seen or celebrated to be important. The example that Goska gave with global warming helped me put this into perspective. If we don’t recycle soda cans, limit plastic use, and lower our meat consumption, it may seem like these unnoticed, insignificant actions do nothing. However, this mentality is dangerous because if these actions are so “unimportant,” we might as well not try to stop the slow of global warming if we can’t stop it NOW. Small actions like recycling or lowering meat consumption, if done by a greater population, can, in fact, make a tangible difference. That is not to say global warming is not a worldwide emergency that we need to take immediate, dramatic action to fix. But, it can be slow to help enact this change as politicians and the public continue to neglect global warming. So using individual moments and following heroes–in this essay she used Gandhi–it is the sum of these small actions that led such influential leaders to prominence in the first place. It is with the lack of integrity and submission to larger systems that “burnout” and “apathy” come from. I thought this was a well-written, inspiring piece that I’ll certainly refer back to when I feel like my activism or strides for change go unrecognized.
Anna Marston
Yeah, the point about recycling struck me because if we stopped recycling as a society, our landfills would be even more full than they are now. Putting plastic, glass, cardboard, and other materials in different containers is contributed to a cleaner environment. It is a dangerous thought to believe that these small actions have no large-scale effect.
Thank you for bringing up the point about social distancing. It is very easy to fall into a “one person going out won’t hurt” mentality, but if everyone thinks that way, we won’t flatten the curve. By staying home, a person can prevent the spread to , hypothetically, 3 people and then prevent those three from spreading it to another three and so forth. Our individual contributions our helping us move one step closer to putting this mess behind us.
I also liked what he said about integrity. When it comes to my actions to help our climate crisis they sometimes feel insignificant, but if everyone has that mentality that their small actions don’t count then nothing will be done. I think we should all strive to know that we did our best at the end of the day.