I Am A Writer, But I'm Not Responsible For Educating You
It's not an easy task, but I do it because I think it's important.
GaudiLab / Shutterstock By Larissa Martin
I began my writing career eight years ago. Even then, I knew that I didn’t want to be a typical writer; I didn’t want to write romance or murder mystery novels.
Instead, I strived to be a non-fictional-inspirational writer, covering topics that aren’t popular or talked about enough.
I wanted to bring awareness to important issues that matter, such as mental health and disabilities. It was my goal to have people think about these topics and change their perspectives.
I am lucky enough not to receive any pushback on topics I choose to write about. However, I do sometimes get a couple of responses about my pieces saying, “Well, what can we do?"
We live in a world driven by technology. So, in most cases, I would hope that this person is willing to find out some of the answers themselves instead of asking me.
Being the writer I am, it seems like I am expected to have all the answers. But I don’t — no one does.
We all need to do additional research on things that matter to us if we find it necessary. I am doing my part as a writer by writing about certain topics and bringing attention to them, especially since many people won’t touch the topics I cover.
It’s not an easy task, but I do it because I think it’s important.
When you read my work, you are made aware of certain situations. If you want to know more, then I’m glad you want to educate yourself.
However, I am not responsible for educating you further.
It’s your job if you choose to learn more about any given topic. I think that people these days expect to be given information instead of investing their own time into finding them out.
I believe if more people spent time and educated themselves on topics they are interested in, it would improve everything. Maybe then we would be able to come together to fix problems or come up with solutions.
But we are not there yet, and I don’t know if we will ever be.
We have to stop expecting things to be done for us.
If we want real change in our society, we have to stop asking others what we should do and make it our job to do it ourselves. We have to take responsibility and do our part, whatever that may be or look like, to fix an issue.
If we work together, we may be able to help come up with solutions to problems that matter to all of us as a society.
I have brought light to many issues, and I will continue to do so. However, to be asked what to do whenever I cover something important isn’t part of my job. I did my part.
My question is, how will we work together?
I will continue my work and move these issues front and center, but solutions will only be found together, not alone.
Larissa Martin is a writer whose work has been featured on MSN, Yahoo Lifestyle, Thrive Global, Unwritten, YourTango, and The Mighty.