Ad-vo-ca-cy

Part of my job is advocating.

[Advocacy is the act of arguing on behalf of a particular issue, idea or person]

In order to stay employed, I won't go into details. Except that I met with representatives of an established institution that seemed to think that "dialoguing" meant coming in with an agenda and not asking the other people at the table what issues needed to be resolved.

We spoke two completely different languages. They used words like "discipline" and "order" ... phrases like "success rates" and "statistics show" ...

We used words like "give voice to" -- "represent" -- "relationships" -- "persons" -- "potential"

I believe in causes, but how does one know if they are cut out for advocacy work? I found myself thinking - as they droned on - about how my principles are too black and white for facilitating movement within a system. For if I'm getting angry when they're actually *trying* to reconcile with us, how could I survive if we were actually at odds?

Then my thoughts got really silly. Three men sat there, all dressed in their power suits and cuff links, the pinks and soft blues in their ties accented by their pastel-colored dress shirts. They leaned back into their chairs, their arms in wide expanses, telling me and my colleagues what we needed to do. Their hair was slick and neat, their blackberries smartly arranged beside their papers.

I pondered - should *I* have dressed up? Should I have actually blow-dried my hair instead of letting it dry in the car on the way to work? Brushing it once in a while would help, I suppose. Do these shiny dangly earrings and knit wool sweater make me look more like a hippie, rather than a manager of respected services in our city? They claimed to be "experts" in their own field. How does one dress to be an expert in working with immigrant communities? Or does it instead intimidate them - seeing how differently we operate -- that our idea of appropriate wardrobe for a meeting doesn't even match?

Advocacy through wardrobe - is it an option??

Then, with a start, I'd realize I wasn't listening and I'd make myself focus on their words ... and discovered I hadn't missed much at all ...

To find a way to advocate without succumbing to cynicism ... or to planning my wardrobe ... that seems to be my challenge.