Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
complicity
this morning started off with a ranty email to a co-worker (a scientist who wrote to me complaining about the lack of funding for his program) who then responded with more horror stories of budget cuts. this then spiralled into me responding to a union email about the need to work on a campaign around the cuts to our department since we are now in danger (as my fellow workers are telling me) of not being able to meet our legal obligations owing to a shortfall in funds and staff.
so this became a discussion with my co-workers (as per the usual morning routine) who couldn’t agree more but are somewhat pessimistic that targeting a campaign towards ottawa will have any effect.
effect or no – here’s the point: if you know something is going on, and that something is contributing to the collapse of a species or ecosystem, and you do nothing to act on it – aren’t you complicit? wouldn’t that make me at least in part responsible for the end to salmon on the coast? am i not required to unify my co-workers in action (using the union mechanisms in place) to make the public aware that the federal government is not living up to its responsibilities?
at what point does personal responsibility begin?
2 Comments on “complicity”
Red Cedar 
This is such a hard question, and so crucial to everything we do. I struggle with this every single day. Some days it’s merely an annoying question tugging at the fringes of my consciousness. On others, it’s nearly paralyzing, like being in a fight-or-flight situation but not knowing what to do … and so doing nothing.
Every action one can take has a potentially negative reciprocal result that has to be weighed against our own willingness or ability to endure. For example, I could quit my job and join a lobbying group or a wilderness advocacy group. But what of my family and their need for food, shelter, medical insurance? I could join in direct actions, but then what if I am jailed, or my ability to keep my job is compromised/ What then? But if I do nothing, that too is a crime of sorts. I’ve only recently begun really examining these questions in real terms and forcing myself to look hard at what I am willing, or not willing, to do. Be interested to hear how other people have arrived at where they are with regards to this issue.
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