“Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute…” Yes, I think 2016 is as well liked as critics and audiences liked Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
I am not a political person. My senior year of high school, we did an extra credit project to show the difference between the electoral college and “one man, one vote.” We used colors of ‘blue’ and ‘red’ as the primary candidates and the independent was ‘white.’ I campaigned my little teenage heart out for the independent. When I polled people, they weren’t picking my color. “Didn’t I run a better campaign?” “Yea, but I like blue.” Thus ending my political aspirations.
Being on social media right now is like playing Global Thermonuclear War. You can’t say or do anything without starting an argument.
My plan is to become what I call an “Advocate for Awesome.”
Dictionary.com defines “advocate” either as a verb “to speak or write in favor of; support or urge by argument; recommend publicly” OR a noun “a person who speaks or writes in support or defense of a person, cause, etc.” Urban Dictionary defines “awesome” as “something Americans use to describe everything.” While accurate, I prefer Oxford Dictionary‘s definition “extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring awe.”
I got the idea from NASA. No, really. NASA’s goal is space exploration. In order to achieve that goal, they have to do research, create things, and experiment. Sometimes those things lead to us landing on the Moon and sometimes those things lead to the creation of smoke detectors and super soakers. The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 requires that NASA “provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information concerning its activities and the results thereof.” Basically, they do cool things and it is the law to tell us about it.
“Despite NASA’s record of technological achievement, one of the common complaints from NASA’s advocates is that the agency does not publicize enough of the practical benefits of what it does. It is perhaps an especially daunting task for its engineers and lends credence to the old joke, “How do you tell an introverted NASA engineer from an extroverted one? The extroverted one looks at your shoes when he’s talking.” – Space Program Benefits: NASA’s Positive Impact on Society – J.R. Wilson
My goal is to make the world a better place. The only way to do that is to research, create things, and experiment. Sometimes that will lead to doing activities like donating blood/plasma/platelets and sometimes those things will lead to recommending a good book or movie that may inspire others.
I have always found it interesting that one person can watch “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and want to be an archeologist, while another will be inspired to be an actor, yet another may be inspired as a filmmaker. All actions, no matter how small, can make a difference to someone. You never know…who that might be, how old they are, or what it will cause them to do next.
My findings will be more in depth than “this is cool, check it out,” more coherent than the “double rainbow” guy, and less wordy than Charles Dickens who was paid by the installment.
[UPDATE: October 2017]
Since writing this post, I have written an article called “Why I Write Recommendations And Not Reviews.” Recommendations are my way of being a better advocate of awesome.
The Questing Geek 