A Little Inspiration

Michel Ventura, Two Hours A Day:

How much time are your convictions worth? Two hours a day? One? Two a week, a month? A vote every four years? How much time is it worth to you to live in a free and just country? On the answer to that question the future of the United States depends. Donating money to causes is fine and necessary, but it doesn't get you off the hook; active human energy is what generates change. How much time is it worth to you, to live in a free and just country? [...]

Groups of individuals, acting locally, leading themselves, created the environment in which leaders like [Martin Luther] King and others emerged. It doesn't start with a leader. It starts with you. It starts with people getting together with others whom they trust, discussing what they think the problems are, focusing on an issue, deciding upon an action. [...]

You can't wait for anybody else to figure it out for you. You get together with people you trust and you figure it out yourselves. Bite off a chunk of the trouble for yourself. There is no hope without you. There is no solution without you. Unless you get into motion, there will be no movement.

Marjane Satrapi, from an interview in Salon:

If I have any advice, it's that every day that you wake up, don't say, "This is normal." Every day, wake up with this idea that you have to defend your freedom.