Northwest Institute for Social Change: The Blog

Reality Check

It’s almost the end of a summer with the Northwest Institute for Social Change and I’m tired. I’m exhausted. I’m worn out and should be sleeping, but there’s a kindling flame within me. Why? What has this summer taught me beyond how to sit in the same room for five hours straight – listening to three different speakers discuss the moral and political consequences of social change in media? Or switching files from WAVs to MP3s in Audacity?

This summer has taught me to question. To question everything – from the very firm ground I stand on (“How do you know that the sidewalk truly exists?) to my previously deeply embedded ideals (“Why is it wrong to craft a story that leads people to a conclusion they couldn’t have reached themselves?).

I came to this program as an idealist. It was the Northwest Institute for Social Change. I interpreted “social change” as action. Action that would improve the Portland community and therefore make the world a better place. But through my eight weeks here I’ve learned something: ideals, idealism, and action can only get you so far. Without a clear intellectual foundation of your values, how will you ever know that what you’re fighting for is right? Without a game-plan and detailed organization – how will you ever solve society’s greatest issues?

Today, I turned in a video that I created with some of the most powerful, impassioned individuals I have ever met. I have never had to explain my perspective and point of view so articulately. I have never had my actions, opinions, or statements questioned so vigorously. And you know what? I also have never learned so much. I have never been so painfully aware of the weaknesses in my logic or the irrationality of my anger.

I thought this program killed my idealism. Instead, it grounded it in reality.

We – those who are impassioned for social justice and social change – can truly make a difference. The key is to acknowledging our own weaknesses. We must be willing to hear the sound of nails on chalkboard in school, feel the greasy counter-tops of our local pub, and smell the fumes of industrialization. We must acknowledge the dilapidated state of our government, the opinionated nature of our news media, and the fact that we are trapped within a capitalistic society.

Instead of giving up and hiding from what we perceive as corruption – let us seek to understand it and fathom it’s underlying structure. Instead of escaping to the purr of the television screen or the bright colors of Facebook, let us look at the dirty newspaper lying on our doorstep.

I know that the perfect world I envision may never be realized. And perhaps that is the most beautiful blessing I could ask for…to know that although what we yearn for may never exist, but the fact that we are striving to that place, the fact that we can use our minds not only to dream, but to systematically improve our surroundings…is wonderful.