How can activism be a practice in love? I believe it must be, because activists need to learn how to love themselves and trust themselves to do the work that is necessary. Activism requires love to be sustainable. Whatever underemployed activist you are – an artist, a teacher, a community organizer - love can be the basis of your work. Not anger or frustration, but a passionate love of change, of your own self, and of the people around you.
As activists, our mission is to love the whole being of every individual, and work to improve each person’s quality of life by moving forward comprehensively and holistically. It is strange that many of us believe this, but forget to include ourselves. We are not pardoned. How can we fight for the improvement of the quality of life for others and simultaneously forget to leave room for our own feelings of elation and grief? As our society ignores the realness of emotional and mental stress for everyone, we feel that we must suppress our own experiences and struggles in order to be true, efficient leaders. There is a silencing of our needs, and we are forced to push ahead, perpetuating the cycle of our pervasive mental health crisis. Instead, we can combat the pandemic by doing our work passionately and forming our own practice of loving ourselves.
A fulfilling project, not to mention a paycheck, is a privilege not many are afforded.
And at the same time, we cannot take this privilege and turn it around into a guilt-ridden drive to ignore passions and needs that are not directly linked to an end goal. We cannot give and expect nothing in return. The work can feed you in some way.
How can we bring our whole self to activism? By loving ourselves as well as the people directly affected by our activism. In the old Jewish teaching from Hillel “If I am not for myself, then who will be for me.” We must perpetuate a sustainable model for activists, or else our actions and movements in the present will fail in the future. If we do not take this moment now, there will not be anyone to carry on the work, or even worse – no one to mentor the next generation of activists.
I charge each and every person to take a moment and reflect on what you can do to support yourself. Even if you take 10 minutes out of your day to drink a cup of tea, I encourage you to try it. It might just be the change you need to make change in our world.
images by:
Emilio Bañuelos, San Francisco | Jorge E. Barragan, Guadalajara | Juan Carlos, Mexico City | Elena Carrasco, San Francisco | Ed Chow, San Leandro | Alexcia DeVásquez, San Francisco | Lydia Gonzales, Oakland | Pernilla Persson, San Francisco | Colt Peterson, Alamo | Unni Raveendranathen, San Francisco | Diana Sánchez, Oakland
more:
Spaces Between Places | Public Places | Mexico | Issue No. One
