Modern Day Activism

I saw this today on Reddit and had to chuckle…

When I saw that my mind immediately thought of two people: the ‘Smile You are Beautiful’ kid and the ‘Park City Pedestrian Passage’ Woman.

One held up a sign for a few days, his message went “viral”, the school recognized him at an assembly, a local coalition centered a campaign around his message, and he hopes to make his message go viral across the country.

Another toiled for at least five years, going to every meeting possible, toting her easel and drawings around, trying to get any support she could, and it looks like she may finally get a little part of what she was hoping for.

I’m not disparaging either high school student Robbie Borders, who is spreading a message of hope, or Jennifer Terry, who is trying to make her small corner of the world safer for kids and adults alike. Everybody does their own thing, in their own way, and any attempt at getting involved is great.

It’s funny, though. Imagine if former mayor Dana Williams could have just held up a sign back in the 90’s to slow development of Empire Canyon. Or if Rich Wyman could have crafted the perfect message on white poster board to achieve the same results he has on the Mountain Accord. To the outsider, it just seems a lot easier to make a sign, but I suppose it’s probably not.

All I can say is activism ain’t what it used to be.