It’s been over 5 weeks since the shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson and the fervent talk of protecting unarmed black teens has wavered. With it having been almost two years since the Newtown tragedy, the numbers of gun control proposals has slowed. Since the “Occupy” movement slowed in early 2012, the scrutiny of corporations has waned.

The common thread in social action is awareness; when an issue is at the forefront of the media the momentum behind it is strong. However when the attention of news outlets turns elsewhere it’s difficult to make change because without that platform within mass media we can lose a lot of support. In order to create a real difference it’s necessary to keep passionate about these human issues even when interest from media is nowhere to be seen.

The period that we get when the topic is hot to voice ourselves against these wrongdoings is instrumental. While it’s easier to reach out while the focus is on it’s just as important to keep the energy going. The ways we can do that is to call the people in government every day we can, create open forums for speech through social networking or through community gatherings.

As a collective, there’s power in what we can do. It’s difficult to keep the conversation relevant while distractions tempt to move focus, but the longer we do so the stronger the commentary can get. The more people involved and the more force there is behind a single issue the harder it can get for outsiders to turn a blind eye.

It’s fruitless to become angry when an issue becomes old news. it may be daunting to become that advocate to speak up, but without people brave enough to put themselves out there, there’s little that can be done. If you’re the kind of person who sees what’s happening in the news and gets fired up about it, you could be the catalyst for revolution.

It may sound grandiose to make statements like that, but if you look throughout American history it’s the people that pulled together to get themselves heard that made waves. We are the culture makers, even when media changes their focus we must work to keep these matters alive. We all must be cognizant of the effect we make on society and to use that to the advantage of others.