Manifesto, by Sarah Cooper

Personally, being a social change agent to me means being someone who is trying to achieve positive social change through their actions. A “social change agent” sounds like a relatively daunting task to me. It feels like a role with a great amount of responsible to one’s community as well as one’s self that I feel a little overwhelmed with.

            I used to think that I didn’t have much power when it came to being someone who could make a change in the world. And some days I still do compare myself to others who have made a significant positive change way too much. I felt like to have power to make a change you had to be someone that was a great speaker, or someone that was an extrovert, or someone with already a great sphere of influence. But as I come more into myself, as well understand the different types of power people can have, I’m beginning to see that some of my strengths in life can also be a form of power for social change. My biggest strength, or form of power as I like to see it, is my empathetic nature. I used to think being empathetic was somewhat of a curse. I cry at almost everything - from seeing a homeless person asking for change or a lost pet on the streets or even another person crying. Sometimes even things that don’t make me sad bring out the waterworks. Hearing someone talk deeply and passionately in class almost always makes me well up!

Instead of seeing that as something that brings me down, I’m beginning to see that this can be something that can instead help me understand and feel for others. It brings me closer to the situation at hand and helps me form a bond to my surroundings (i.e. the people/any other living things in it.)

One of the biggest resources I have to manage the anguish and anxiety about graduation as well as all the emotions and feelings this major entails, is coming together and hearing from different classmates and friends in the ENST major about all of this. It’s kind of paradoxical how hearing the concerns and hopeless feelings from others in the major somehow doesn’t make me scared, but rather even more hopeful and excited for the future. Hearing that others have the same concerns as you that sometimes keep you up for hours during the night is something that makes me feel much more settled that I’m not the only one who feels like what is facing us is discouraging.

Almost all of our readings this semester have connected to me in some sort of way. Everything we’ve read so far has led me to ask more questions about the kinds of goals I want to achieve in this major, how to go about achieving these things in a manner that is most beneficial to society, and how to achieve these things without completely losing my mind. I never want to be the type of person who stops asking questions. I always want to be inquisitive and curious, because with this type I’ve mindset, I’ve learned the most about others as well as myself and the value I have. With that being said, I’m grateful that these articles continue to make me question the framework I’ve built my life around, even though there’s been many times this semester where I’ve been exhausted with asking questions and wishing there was just a straight answer to an issue. Obviously I’m far enough into this major to know there isn’t a straight answer to everything. Social and environmental disparities are part of a larger structure that would require breaking down a huge dominion of power that has controlled us for centuries and isn’t as simple as fitting the solution into one little sentence. But wow, I would be so much less stressed if there were!

            One of the most memorable week of readings was our week on “love.” Or more so, the discussions surrounding the topic of love. It was really beautiful watching many of the people in class realizing that the root of much of their anger and sadness and frustration was out of pure love for this planet and the people on it. It was also really great seeing people come to terms with the fact that it’s okay to feel anger and sadness over these things, and we shouldn’t feel guilty for having those reactions. Another conversation we had was about hope. I remember someone in class discussing how they were feeling pretty hopeless in the face of all of the crises we are facing, and someone responding “We need to have hope so other people can come to us with their hopelessness.” They also said that although the other person may feel hopeless, there is still some part of them that is optimistic or else they wouldn’t be here in class right now. Both those comments really stuck with me and reminded me that first of all, my success in this major is a reflection of the continuous hope I carry with me that social and environmental change is possible. Even though some days I may say I feel hopeless, obviously there is still a part of me that thinks otherwise or else I would’ve dropped out long ago. Secondly, it showed me another really important aspect of being a social change agent – the act of giving discouraged people hope that things have the potential to get better. 

Overall, the fact of my imminent graduation frightens me quite a bit. In one sense, I’m incredibly excited to get out of school and start exploring my options that will present myself after I get that piece of paper. On the other hand, I’m pretty frightened to be thrown out into the “real world” and try to begin making a change without someone holding my hand through it (or giving me thought provoking articles on how to handle situations that come my way!) I’m quite confident, however, that the tools I’ve learned over the past four years will help carry me through the rough and sometimes scary challenges that being a social change agent may throw my way.