This time of year, many people are thinking about their New Year鈥檚 resolutions. More often than not, these resolutions revolve around things we鈥檇 like to change in ourselves or our lives. But what about the things we鈥檇 like to change about our world--the things that are bigger than ourselves and our own individual lives? This year, I鈥檓 advocating for a different kind of resolution--a resolution to connect ourselves to 鈥渢he change we鈥檇 like to see in the world鈥� through direct action in areas we have the power to influence. I鈥檓 convinced that, if enough of us did this, we would turbo-charge not only efforts towards social justice but also human well-being on a vast scale. Are you ready to see where you can plug in??
Those of us who work at social change organizations, like us here at the , perhaps have it easiest because our very livelihood depends on doing work that makes a difference in the world. Yet, even those of us who work in this arena need to recommit periodically--to our ideals and principles, to our social change goals, to the targets for change that we have set and to which we hold ourselves accountable. At WCW, we are using a strategic planning process to help us do this, which requires us both organizationally and individually to look at our work--which includes research, theory, and action programs--and its social change impact. Even those of us who have chosen social justice or human wellbeing as our lifework must periodically review, refresh, and reinvigorate.
Just because we don鈥檛 all work for social change organizations, however, doesn鈥檛 mean there aren鈥檛 major ways we can make each a difference. What do you care about? What change would you like to see in the world? As great and necessary as organizations are in the social change equation, they are not the end-all and be-all. Individuals and small groups, even when they are working for change outside formal organizations, can make a monumental difference in outcomes for many through partnering, advocacy, endorsement, and financial support. As once famously quipped, 鈥淣ever doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.鈥�
Yet, the 鈥減ower of one鈥� is something to be reckoned with, too. We can look to history for inspiration. I would tell my students, for example, about an African-American 鈥渉ouse slave鈥� named who held a 鈥渕idnight school鈥� in her cabin each night to teach 12 fellow slaves how to read; once they learned, she took in 12 more--and did so for decades, until scores 鈥渇orged their passes to freedom.鈥� Can we imagine this kind of educational activism today? Just last week, I learned the story of , the Japanese diplomat in Lithuania who, during the Holocaust, without orders, wrote and distributed transit visas, sometimes working in collaboration with his wife for 18 hours per day, even overnight, to produce them. Today, scholars estimated that he saved about 6,000 Jews and that anywhere from 40,000 to 100,000 people are alive today because of the action he took. Both Milla Granson鈥檚 and Chiune Sugihara鈥檚 actions show us that there鈥檚 always something we can do, right from where we happen to be standing. So what are we waiting for?
All of us have some kind of expertise, passion, or resources that we can contribute to increasing social justice and human well-being in the world. It just takes a different kind of resolution. What will you resolve to do in 2014??
Layli Maparyan, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the 妻友社区 and Professor of Africana Studies at .