What to do... What to do.

A friend of mine came over last night and we got to talking about what we want to do with our lives. We both came to the conclusion that what we are majoring in as undergrads is not fulfilling. We have aspirations and things we want to change but we haven’t done anything to make this change. I am almost finished with school and whether or not my degree get used as it is intended no longer matters to me as much as it did two years ago. My ambitions have been gradually changing over the last few months from the drive to graduate, get a job, get married, get a better job, buy a house, have kids, retire, and die ... to now wanting to make a difference. I still want love in my life and I fully intend to get married eventually but my work is no longer a top priority. I want to travel while I can, do volunteer work while I can, and more than anything I want to go to Africa to purify water and/or help build schools. How I’m going to pay for these service adventures, I’m still not sure. Any suggestions?

Interesting Finds on Ways to Help

I've decided to change things up and add some ideas of ways you can help either in your community or around the world. Free the Children is a group who works to build schools and purify water in developing countries. I learned about them last night at a speech at Longwood University given by Michel Chikwanine, a former child soldier who was finally saved from the war in Congo and brought to Canada. His inspiring story and the work he does now has really pushed me to start thinking about my life and what I can do to help. I am going to use my blog to try to find a way to make a difference whether it be through another organization or something I can do on my own. The only thing I ask of you is that you offer ideas of things that we can do. Look into these two sites and tell me what inspires you!

Fighting for your Right

While getting off the path of least resistance is difficult at times it is wonderful to hear about people's experiences with trying it. Amanda George (Blogger of This Week in Weird) said that she has found herself consciously getting off the path and speaking up. I think the reason she has started doing this is because she, like she mentioned in her comment, is getting more educated about the "isms" and now has an understanding of why it is important to get off the path.
Getting off the path can cause you to be met with ignorant people or major blockades. This is just what happened in a Mississippi high school where a lesbian student is having to step out and speak up for what she wants. The school cancelled the prom to avoid having to deal with the 'issue' of having a same sex couple at the prom. This caused an even bigger issue for the school.
What are your thoughts on this?

Why do we do it?

"He's so gay!"

"Look at her- she is so butch!"

"Bet he bought that car with drug money..."

How do you respond when your friends or family members say things like this? Do you agree, laugh it off, sit their in silence, or shrug and walk away? Guess what! No matter if you whole-heartedly agree or just sit there quietly you have just participated in an "ism." Allan Johnson calls this staying on the "path of least resistance" in his book Privilege, Power, and Difference (2006). This path is the easy road. The smile or nod instead of speaking up and telling those people why it's wrong to judge people like that and how they are continuing the spiral of oppression in our society.

This week I'm asking you to speak up. Get off the Path. Respond to this blog! Tell me what you think!

What do you do when these situations arise?

What will you do to make a change?

________

Johnson, A. G. (2006). Privilege, Power, And Difference - Second Edition. New York, San Fransisco.