advocacy

Joyfully we undertake our daily work.

They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I took mine and fell flat on my face. As a young woman, I dreamed of changing the world. In my twenties, I went to africa to try and save the continent, only to learn that Africans neither wanted nor needed saving. Indeed, when I was there, I saw some of the worst that good intentions, traditional charity, and aid can produce...I concluded that if I could only nudge the world a little bit, maybe that would be enough.But nudging isn't enough.

..things are never as complicated as they seem. It is only our arrogance that prompts us to find unnecessarily complicated answers to simple problems.

When it comes to peace, we need to facilitate peace-makers' personal engagement and their genuine desire to bridge the gap between advocacy knowledge and skills necessary to differentiate between theory and practice in the field of conflict management.

Not in My Backyard (NIMBY) does not work. Opiate addicts live in our communities and in our families & they work in our businesses.

As you become your own advocate and your own steward, your life will beautifully transform.

We Lesbian Avengers have built this shrine. It stands for our fear. It stands for our grief. It stands for our rage. And it enshrines our intention to live fully and completely as who we are, wherever we are. We take the fire of action into our hearts. And we take it into our bodies. And we stand, here and now, to make it known that we are here, and here we will stay. Our fear does not consume us. Their fire will not consume us. We take that fire, and we make it our own.

Mental illness is not something you misunderstand in this era. Get educated because bias is no different than racism.

Be an advocate for the people and causes important to you, using the most powerful tool only you have__our personal stories.

It__ not by story alone that successful advocates urge others to take action. Advocating with our personal stories takes a specific kind of preparation. It requires practice with elements of persuasion, public speaking, media interview skills and storytelling__ot to mention healthy does of fortitude and commitment.

The enormity of problems like hunger and social injustice can certainly motivate us to act. We can be convinced logically of the need for intervention and change. But it is the story of one individual that ultimately makes the difference__y offeringliving proof.

The space between the private and the public is the nexus of the personal and the social, if not political. It__ where we meet the strong or subtle cultural censors who attempt to define what community, race, class, or gender can or cannot speak, to tell us which stories are told and valued and which are not. In short, it__ where we__e reminded of the power of personal stories and the power of the storyteller.

The power of your story may not lie in its drama, but in its absolutely perfect relationship to your cause.

Advocating well with a personal story is not a call to simply __nsert Story Here.

They want us to be afraid. They want us to be afraid of leaving our homes. They want us to barricade our doors and hide our children. Their aim is to make us fear life itself! They want us to hate. They want us to hate 'the other'. They want us to practice aggression and perfect antagonism. Their aim is to divide us all! They want us to be inhuman. They want us to throw out our kindness. They want us to bury our love and burn our hope. Their aim is to take all our light! They think their bricked walls will separate us. They think their damned bombs will defeat us. They are so ignorant they don__ understand that my soul and your soul are old friends. They are so ignorant they don__ understand that when they cut you I bleed. They are so ignorant they don__ understand that we will never be afraid, we will never hate and we will never be silent for life is ours!

What does it mean to be an advocate?__n its broadest sense, advocacy means __ny public action to support and recommend a cause, policy or practice._ That covers a lot of public actions, from displaying_ a bumper sticker to sounding off with a bullhorn. But whether the action is slapping something on the back of a car or speaking in front of millions, every act of advocacy involves making some kind of public statement, one that says, __ support this._ Advocacy is a communicative act. Advocacy is also a persuasive act. __ support this_ is usually followed by another statement (sometimes only implied): _...and you should, too._ Advocacy not only means endorsing a cause or idea, but recommending, promoting, defending, or arguing for it.

He did what good lawyers always do. He shifted his argument in the direction his audience was already going.

If he could be hard on kings and cabinets, he was invariably kind to his colleagues.