My Magic Super Power

My name is Miranda and I don’t have all the answers. What I do have is the magic super power of personal experience, which I wield to the best of my ability. I believe that all of us have access to this incredible tool and, when armed with personal experience, our potential as activists can flourish wildly. But I suppose I should tell you a bit more about myself before saying anymore about magic powers…

Along with my partner in life and in L.O.V.E., Victor, I am a vegan activist currently working in Oakland, CA. Formerly a paid leafleter for Vegan Outreach, I am now enjoying the freedom found in independent, local, grassroots activism. Over the past 12 years, I have engaged in many forms of activism, primarily focused on speciesm including circus and fur protests, leafleting, tabling, marching, classroom presentations, and most recently, mobile video projection. Out of those 12 years of fighting for what I believed in, I have a.) only been vegan for 6 ½ of those 12 years, b.) only started to be an effective activist within the last 9 months, and c.) only started to understand what it is I do believe in within the last year.

In the years leading up to this newfound clarity, I worked to eliminate suffering, without really thinking about what the end result of that work would look like. My world was turned upside-down when, last December, I read The Dreaded Comparison by Marjorie Spiegel, which showed me that oppression is oppression is oppression. I began to see the world through the lens of power imbalances, noting that in every interaction, someone holds the greater power and the outcome of that interaction hinges upon that power imbalance. I realized that suffering was only a symptom; oppression was the root. I realized that I hadn’t been honest with myself in my veganism and, therefore, hadn’t been speaking honestly with the public in my outreach.

The lesson I have learned, and am still learning, is to constantly seek the truth, even if that means abandoning ideas thought to be true in the past, even if it means that 11 years of activism were spent working towards someone else’s goal. This brings me back to that magic super power I mentioned earlier, personal experience. The process of making mistakes, learning from them, and subsequently making new choices is extremely valuable. Through this process, discovery of personal truth becomes possible, and thus, we may become effective advocates for sustainable change.