The problem?
It's good that our society's become all about promoting awareness by making it cool. Let's face it, the Make Poverty History Campaign, Bono's ProductRed,and all the Live Aid reruns that have come and gone, have banked on the fact that people are tokenistic trend followers.
But increasing awareness this way isn't merely a problem in itself. It's in fact, probably the most accessible way that millions of people can reject or support a practice cause or idea. Yet it becomes a problem when the concept of "taking action" becomes motivated by keeping up with fashion. This is because we become passive rather than active
So what can we do?
Firstly, it's useless to get disenchanted, but we just always need to remember that our actions should continuously evolve and change. That's how we can make a memorable impact. There's no guide to being original but here's a launching pad if you're sick of the same old propositions.
1) Write down these same old propositions. That way you can recognise them easily. Analyse them critically - why are they good? why do they suck?
2)Add to all the good things about the old propositions with new aims you'd like to achieve. Forget about whether they're achievable. Everything's achievable.
3) After you're completely overwhelmed with all this thinking, shake everything up in your head and think of something totally random or unexpected. This doesn't have to be really unusual, sometimes you can make a bigger impact by doing something a little differently.
4) Ask for feedback. Go along to friends, acquaintances, people on public transport etc. and ask them what they think. If they laugh and say it will never work, you may have struck gold! I say may because it's up to you to decide.
5) Get started! You'll find if you launch into doing something, it will change, and become more manageable and realistic as you go. Never be so resolute in you're objectives that you don't respond to changes that happen during planning.
Don't underestimate the power of small Things to do that are innovative and different. People will remember them so much more than just another protest.
