Am I Too Comfortable to Be Radical?

Just because I believe in you and vocally support you does not mean my activism can include you directly. Nor do I expect you to always be there for me. Still, I have to ask myself regularly, “How connected am I to the causes I advocate?” knowing that there is always the risk of spreading myself thinner than one of those restaurant butter patties on a large slice of toast.

In what ways, though, is my radical thinking more than thinking? I might start by reading all the essential books written by those who live on the edge. I might select relevant news sources. The world’s inequities might scandalize me.

Someone once said that when you look at the five people closest to you you’ll find your mirror. to the five in my life: Are we at ease? It is more comfortable for us to appraise the world from a distance. I can academically analyze empire, religion, economics, and even popular culture. Does this mean I am sidestepping the struggle?

There is only one way I am aware of being an authentic and not merely self-imaged revolutionary: to stand side-by-side with the uncomfortable. If I surround myself with comfortable people then comfort is normalized. What my friends have agreed upon provides the baseline of my decisions and actions but is absent from the frustration and pain those in the struggle suffer.

If I am not all in with you, I am an embedded reporter but certainly no soldier. If I do not embody what you are experiencing, I am not an ally but an observer and unwilling to commit to taking the risks you take by simply existing.

If I am to be your ally, I will need first to desert my comfortable companions.