Prostrate

It is the comfortable position of writers, such as myself, to look at issues from the outside. We are spectators, merely giving our two-cents on various issues of human rights or political injustice and telling others what they should do. We preach to others about activism, while never doing any real “activity” ourselves outside of throwing seditious words at any who would waste their time on us. Were there any real opportunity to become involved in the issue that we so passionately insist upon others, many of us “prophets” would fall in line with the cowards who we so routinely chastise. This is an often overlooked element of political protest, to actually protest. And end can never be reached simply with words. Action must be taken, especially by the artists.

The lack of any real motivation is true with any artist in any art form. After delivering their paralyzing speech, every “radical” must step off of his or her soap box and lend a hand with the rest of their peers. Plays like “Rent” raise this interesting question as homeless destitutes implore the “artists” of the performance to simply lend a dollar. The fact that artists can be satisfied with only talking is nothing short of vanity, and is a crime just as heinous as the injustice itself.

One of the most powerful aspects of Tim Miller’s Glory Box, in my opinion, was the fact that he had cited various ways to become involved in homosexual rights in his theater program. Ideas, contacts, and support were all offered to each and every member of the theater that night, something that few playwrights feel a need to do while supposedly fanning the flames of change. While talking and awareness are indeed important, these are not the sole elements of political change. One must stand up and do something about it.

It is the duty of the artist, just as it is the duty of the average human being (as most artists would prefer not to think of themselves as), to help solve the issues which they preach about. In the words of the immortalized Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, you must “be the change you wish to see in the world.” I myself am only active on the immediate level of change, participating often in community service for others. Perhaps one day an opportunity to make a societal change in my world will fall in my lap, and I hope to be ready and receptive to that opportunity when it comes. I believe that all people, artists included, should also do what they can now and search for any way to be involved in the future of their world.