Acting up again

Today Alex is going to teach you about acting. No, this is not your high school drama class but more of a linguistics lesson. ACT is the root word of action, active, and (my favorite) activist. You cannot take action or call yourself an activist or be active without acting upon what you believe first.
Now I am not saying for everyone to be as off-the-wall involved as I am. I know that lifestyle of always being on the go is not for everybody, so that isn't what I'm promoting. What I AM promoting is taking a stand, living out what you believe. It doesn't matter what you take a stand on, as long as you let your actions show what you feel is true.
I have met many in my time who have had incredibly strong opinions on a subject and appearred to want to defend said opinions to the death if the occaision neccessitated it. However, when they were around certain people, all their resolve just dissolved and they seemed to go along with statements they were previously saying they disagreed with. Then there are others who do seem to have a genuine concern for their beliefs, only to live their lives like those ideas had never even been thought of.
Before I go any further, I will say that I'm not trying to make everyone turn into a carbon copy of me. I know I'm not perfect and that defending some of my own ideas has on many occaisions spiraled into an all-out war. I once caused a scene on a Pace bus because a classmate was bloviating on and on about how "women have it too good these days." Another time I stormed out of a church and have been asked not to return since that time (well, now it doesn't matter ever since I converted and have no intention of coming back). I know I've gone against some of the standards my parents have, and being so opinionated is probably why I attract (and scare off!) the kinds of guys I do. It's understandable if someone doesn't want her actions to spiral into something uncontrollable.
What I'm saying, though, is that anyone can live their beliefs and that it only takes incorporating that into one's everyday actions and words. Don't say you're into multiculturalism but then complain about "those damned [insert racial/ethnic/religious slur here]s taking over our town." Don't call yourself a feminist but then go along with everything your husband or boyfriend says, even if you would rather eat a tapeworm than agree with it. If you're promoting a healthy body image, avoid picking on your girlfriend if she's not as perfectly thin and slender as your buddies' girlfriends or the grls in the (ahem) magazines you buy. And please, for all of our sakes, don't laud the merits of good environmental stewardship but then drive around a big fat gas guzzler and throw your trash out the window!
Taking a stand is as simple as avoiding behaviors you would find reprehensible in someone else. It's as easy as considering how your actions affect others, especially those you claim to support. It's a deceptively simple, almost democratic process, as anyone can do it. Activism and action start small, but that's the most important and fundamental part of it. You can't have the big actions without the small ones first.