pot stirrers and conduits

from Tiffany Peterson, TheLighthousePrinciples.com

There are shades of advocacy.

Every day moments.

You and me, choosing moment by moment, to speak. Or listen.  Or write.  Or do something.

family dinner 2014

To call the teacher and ask for a meeting.

To take the dog home from the pound.

To press the Pay Button on her campaign page.

To deliver diapers and bags of sweaters to the shelter.

To listen when she is in tears and needs a place to land.

To feel the relief when the domestic violence order is granted.

To recycle our yogurt cartons and newspapers.

To call the electric company when we need one more week to pay the bill.

To buy the candy bar from the boy down the street for his fundraiser.

from the VIP Center’s TBTN

To take back the night.

To sit on the PTA.

To wear a Green Dot shirt.

If advocacy means to be a voice, a conduit for change, I know without a doubt that we are each, in our own way, an advocate for something.

Many dear souls have the job title of advocate at shelters and crisis centers the world over; these brave hearts have my love always.

I coach them, I train them, I befriend them.  I sit over coffee and laugh with them until tears roll down my cheeks.  I stay quiet on the phone with them and press my hand to my heart when they cry in frustration.

Advocates are my circle. They are my people.

And each day I am realizing more and more that we are all brave hearts with things that set us on fire.

All of us, advocates {maybe} with a lower case a.  Not a job title, but a calling.

Brave Hearts 2014

And whether we heed the call with quiet letters to the editor or status updates on Facebook or marches in the street, we decide.  We decide that that thing, that nag/that tug/that whisper, is big enough to lead us into new ways.

We decide to be the pot-stirrers.

We all carry within us the things that stir our hearts.  The things we will be brave for.

Find your something.