Before you criticize too harshly though, consider what others may have thought about you before your eyes were opened to these atrocities. You learned about this because SOMEONE fought against nay-sayers to bring you the word. Not everyone who heard their message took it to heart like you did, but still, the effort was worth it because YOU have been affected, and now you’re affecting others!

If advocacy and change were easy on the change agents, then this world would be a perfect place. Maybe your wristbands are making a difference to someone who’s not speaking up now, but will speak later at a different time, with a different cause. You’re a terrific role model for how democracy works and even though the day to day hard-knocks of those around you can get to be too much, try to remember that we all start out at zero learning on topics and move where we think we need to be.

It’s infuriating when people don’t support our passions, but we can’t stop trying. You WILL connect to someone, somewhere, on something. Keep being a real American!