The title and photo quote of my blog has been around for awhile.
Surrounding ourselves with people smarter than we are, meaning, people who are better at something than we are, has several advantages:
1. The people are always interesting.
2. We can always learn something from them.
3. We avoid an inflated ego.
4. When we hang out with people who are already where we want to be, we are inspired, encouraged and motivated toward our own goals.
This message really resonated with me today, especially in regards to Animal Rights. When I visit animal rights sites or when I'm hanging out with animal rights people, I find myself being the "teacher", the motivator; it wouldn't be so bad if they felt inspired by me, but I don't think they do. Most of the animal rights people I've met are too complacent, too apathetic to really, truly care about the plight of animals, and it shows in their minimalist actions. Actually, I find such people bringing me down!
I love the part of the intro of an animal rights podcast that says "You know that you can do better than that."
Minimalist animal rights people seem to know this but simply don't care to do better.
We all can do better for the animals and I want to be around people smart enough to not only realize that but do check themselves from time-to-time to make sure they are doing better--I do all the time. I want to be motivated to do more for animals as I motivate others as well.
I don't want to be the smartest person in the room, but I don't care to be the dumbest person in the room either, where no one learns from me. Ideally, I would like to be in a room where there's a partnership of we educate each other, we comfort each other and motivate and inspire each other. A room where we both contribute something to the vegan table.
I will be on the lookout for such "rooms"--online and offline--where we are all on the same page and can learn from each other.
