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“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Those words of civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., speak proficiently about people who talk the talk and walk the walk; ideally his words would also motivate closet activist, people who hesitate to speak up or take action at the opportune time.  We all know someone who loud-talks up a storm behind the scenes, complaining about what “somebody” should or should not say or do to get something done, but when the occasion arises for the whiner to speak publicly about the issue, his or her jaws lock tighter than a hard shell clam.

I believe that some people are born activists, while others grow into those shoes. It doesn’t matter how they arrive at being a crusader, what is significant is that at some point they learn the importance of speaking out and championing their cause, whether it is a global effort like Going Green or working to eliminate homelessness in their community.  Activists are generally mindful of their Ps and Qs – they prepare, participate, and when necessary, they question. Then, they pursue a course to affect the cause that they are championing – whether it means joining their colleagues in a public protest, taking part in a fact finding survey, or casting a vote.

On the other hand closet activists avoid publicly stating their opinion, preferring to cower in the shadows and grumble instead of taking a stand.  No one is right or wrong all of the time.  Sometimes we make good choices, other times bad.  But regardless, the point is — express yourself.  Whether you support a cause or totally disagree with it.  Man or woman up!  Let your position be known. 

People who have the opportunity to speak up and refuse, basically deserve whatever they get from the outcome of a decision by the majority.  Life is a crapshoot, a gamble.  Each one of us – from the President of the United States to the homeless person on the street – has only limited control over some things and absolutely no control over other things.  It is liberating to be able to state a position.  You may change your mind later on, you may even regret a decision, but you can feel pleased that you at least had enough backbone to assert yourself.   Any coward can opt out. In the words of Malcolm X, “If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.”

During a town hall meeting on September 20, Velma Hart, a former CFO of AmVets, told President Obama that she was “exhausted” from defending him.  That media finger-snap-of-fate brought her national exposure.  Any open-minded viewer, who saw the newscast, could see that Ms. Hart was not Obama-bashing during her 15 minutes of fame.  She politely, professionally, and articulately voiced her opinion.  In a CNN interview which aired on the day following the brouhaha, a poised Ms. Hart said, “I still believe in him.” 

Nevertheless, just weeks after that town meeting, she lost her job and joins 15 million other Americans on the human scrapheap of unemployment.  While AmVets claims that Ms. Hart’s layoff was an economic decision, and the White House at the time of this posting is mum on the subject, inquiring minds are speculating about the reason she was let go.

Among the lot of the recession-era unemployed, the majority were likely efficient and dedicated employees, who actually were dismissed due to recessionary budget cuts.  Some within the multitude fell beneath the axe of shrewd employers with a personal vendetta (don’t pretend that it doesn’t happen), who seized the opportunity to fallaciously blame the job cuts of those whom they axed on the economy.  And a number of people on the unemployment roster were ousted for miscellaneous reasons.  The result is still the same.  The unemployment list keeps growing.

So, in this climate of Big Brother muscle flexing, whether it pertains to surveillance cameras, free speech censoring, or pat-down groping, the question that begs an answer is – was Ms. Hart released from her job because of the current economic slump as was stated, or because she publicly criticized the president?  If the latter is the case then working Tea Party members should be wallowing in a witch’s brew of anxiety, because Obama-bashing is their forte.  If, to the contrary, some influential figures felt that Ms. Hart was too amicable to the Commander-in-Chief, then score one for the conservatives.

 The matter of Hart is just one more issue that makes some arm-chair quarterbacks who are watching the political games place an index finger on the side of their head and say, “Ummm?”

Listen-up fellow baby boomer novices and wannabe-geeks, let’s talk about listservs. Yes, that’s listserv without the “e.” No, it is not misspelled. Listservs are basically email transmissions to and from a list of subscribers who share a common interest, and there are thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of them worldwide.

When you first join a listserv, you may feel like a kid going to a new school. You may be received warmly and make friends right away, or you might be completely ignored, at least until someone in the group decides to acknowledge you; that could take a few minutes, a few hours, or a few days.

When a member of the listserv sends an email to the group, every subscriber in the group can read it, anyone can respond to it, and everyone can read the response. Say that you join a neighborhood listserv, the subject of conversation could be about anything, from someone asking if anyone has seen their lost dog, Cujo, to a complaint about roaches in a restaurant on the avenue.

Unlike in a chat room where your conversation is likely to bring an immediate response, in a listserv you will probably receive the information you are seeking, but maybe not right away. If everyone in the neighborhood is discussing where they last saw Cujo, you may not learn which restaurant is infested until you happen to be dining there and actually see a creepy crawler scurrying up the wall.

Remember Lesson One – There are no private conversations on the listserv. If you want to gossip about someone else who is in the group, send your fellow gossiper a message to his or her personal email, or better yet phone that person, because just as what goes in an email stays in an email; what is communicated in a listserv goes to everyone. 

Look at text messages – oh, you don’t text either?  Then, that is something else we have in common. But as I was saying, just as they do in text messages, people in the listservs occasionally speak in code.  Lesson Two — Brush up on the jargon before joining a listserv.  There is a wonderful website that lists some of the acronyms and abbreviations used by the listserv savvy. If you are a novice, http://www.internetslang.com will introduce you to some of the lingo. If you post a question to the listserv and get this response, “SI”, the sender could either be telling you to “Stop it!” or calling you a “Stupid Idiot.”  Plain English may be the standard, depending on which listserv you join, or you could be bombarded with Internet jargon. Prepare yourself, so that you will not spend time trying to determine whether the reply you received from a fellow listserver was an exclamation or an insult.  Another site that you may find useful for deciphering messages is http://www.netlingo.com. 

You will probably find that you are already familiar with a few of the commonly used acronyms like OMG (Oh, my God, or Oh, my gosh for the anti-Christians) and HAK (hugs and kisses). If this post has helped you to understand a wee bit about listservs, then G4U.  C YA.