After hearing the guest speakers in class, I realized two big things about community organizing that will help me as I move forward with my issue. The first is that it takes a lot of work, and a lot of time, to make real change in a community. The woman who spoke about her bike and street projects explained that it took her three years to get the word out about her ideas and convince local government to give her proposals a try. The man who spoke about getting clean air, soil, and water rights for Columbus, is still working hard to get awareness out about the issues so he can hopefully get his proposed bill of rights to pass in the next election. However, although it takes a lot of hard work and time, it is clear that it is very rewarding.
The other thing I took away from the guest speakers in class, is that truly anyone can make a big difference in a community. These two speakers were just normal citizens like me, with a whole lot of passion for their causes. It was really inspiring and encouraging to see that I can make a difference in a community even if I am just a student.
As for my own issue and community organizing, I would like to really work on spreading awareness. I think one of the biggest reasons people do not care about the harsh realities of slaughterhouses is because they do not know about them. Secondly, I think it would be really significant if Ohio State had “Mindful Mondays” where the dining halls did not serve meat. Even just one campus doing this for one day a week could make a huge difference in helping these poor animals, as well as spreading awareness about the issue.