Dr. Seuss may still be right.

I am being tested at work right now.
my work ethic, my personal philosophy, my idealism.
there are forces at work that may be intended to squash what i consider best in me. and today i must make a decision about how i am going to react.
my colleagues, those being faced with the same existential crisis, have decided today to do only what they must, what is minimally expected of them. and i see the appeal of such a choice, but as i write this i also see that this makes their (i.e. the powers that be, the squashers themselves) accusations true. they have created a self fulfilling prophesy that my colleagues have decided to fulfill for them. now this may show them the ere of their ways, it may prove the point my colleagues wish to make. but most likely, it will not. it will put wind in the sails of those powers.
i dont want to put wind in any sails that detract from my vision, my mission.
one of my interns left a post-it on my computer last night. this is what it said:

"Be who you are
and say what you feel,
because those who
mind don't matter
and those who
matter don't mind."
Dr. Suess

I think hes right. i did this today, i said what i felt, and it may very well have been the politically worst thing i could do. but when i walked into the room with the kids i work with, i knew i had done what i needed to do in order to stand in front of them and have anything worth while to give them. i had to do it to be able to look myself in the mirror tomorrow morning.
and for days now, even before the proverbial shit hit the fan, i have heard these words in my head:
"you must be the change you want to see in the world."
and so, i will be that change, whatever the outcome may be.
idealism intact (at least for today).