All semester, we've been having substantive and challenging conversations in our Tuesday evening ethics seminar.  Usually, a guest talks about his or her area of expertise and then we launch into questions and answers and lively discussion.  Last week, we invited 4 MIT students to talk about their active participation in social, environmental, or political issues.  The presentations were fascinating and inspiring.  What we learned was that the presenters had chosen a specific arena in which to be active. For two, the issue was related to their studies; the other two, not.  

Although the students are passionate about their activism work, they made it clear that, in order to be effective, their activism had finite limits and they resisted the temptation to become overwhelmed. That would would lead to ineffectiveness and "burn out".  We thought this was wise counsel.  As one said, "Pick a topic or issue that is compelling to you. Find something that rings true and that stirs you. Then educate yourself, see what can be done and go do it!"  

Becoming active in a cause doesn't have to take over your life. It is possible to find time to make a difference--in large and small ways--without becoming overwhlemed. 

The quote below is by Thomas Merton, a Trappist mystic monk, writer, poet and activist, from his Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander.  It's an eloquent reminder that we need to create space in our lives and hearts before we can go out in the world and..."see what can be done and go do it!"

"The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence. More than that, it is cooperation in violence. The frenzy of the activist...destroys his own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of his own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful."