If I can make culture I must act responsibly

A while back I wrote about ranting vs. modelling, and how we can change the minds of others not just through protests and media, but through small actions.

Which is why I love the following quote

Far from despair, the idea that each of us recreates reality with each encounter fills me with a wondrous sense of hope, empowerment and community connection. If there is no absolute truth “out there” by which to create pristine “expert systems” which can somehow solve our problems mathematically; if I am who I am because you are who you are; both of us who we are because they are who they are; if we accept that when we enter into dialogue we both change; if its true we co-create reality, which in turn creates us, then we are called to a new kind of community. If I can make culture I must act responsibly and if I can only ever be part of the creation I must act humbly. (Maureen O’Hara, speaking about the potential of post-modern feminism)

If I can make culture I must act responsibly.

The words we use, the decisions we make, the thought and opinions we hold, the structures we create, the laws we enact, the people we vote for — these are all actions made by people, not amorphous non-human actors, and create our culture.

Our actions today, and tomorrow, as family members, as friends, as members of society, as fellow bus riders, sa fellow tourists, as fellow women, etc. — create our culture.

Creating a new, more just culture, and a new reality, might be a messy process, but an important and beautiful one.