Your beliefs mean nothing, and everything.

The thing about a large undertaking like, say, “fixing the government”, is that in true Getting Things Done fashion, this is not a Next Action. It cannot be ‘done’.

It’s also not a Project, being comprised of 2 or more actionable tasks.

It’s an Area of Responsibility. It requires constant effort and realignment of one’s actions.

And like any Area of Responsibility in our lives – like working out and cooking to maintain a healthy lifestyle, or being a good parent, or an amazing manager –, this one is constantly being tested and checked. It’s sabotaged all the time, and our response to the sabotages reinforce whether it’s an area we truly care about.

One source of sabotage is one’s own inclination to let things slip. But as there ought to be no days off of being a parent (esp. in the early days when your child would literally die if you don’t tend to it), there can be no days off of fighting that good fight.

I want to make a point for signing yourself up to do whatever you feel is right and just, even if it’s seemingly petty, and especially if it’s futile, so that you don’t sabotage and censor yourself.

Yes, this is still about the Apple protest thing.

Will my contribution to a large cause like this matter?

It does and doesn’t matter at the same time.

It means nothing to the world, and yet it means all the world.

Let me unpack this:

Everything I, as a sole individual, may be doing, won’t change the course of a large organization – not a corporation like Apple, nor any government. They don’t care about my personal opinion. I’m not in a privileged position: I’m neither a large stakeholder nor an elected official in a position of power. If my life should end today, they wouldn’t notice. Chances are, you’re in exactly the same situation.

But to me, as an individual, whatever I do is of the highest import because I cannot express my values except through action. The values aren’t real if I don’t make them real. That’s all we have. If one doesn’t do what one believes to be good and true, this inaction betrays these values. Culturally, we codified this insight in proverbs like “actions speak louder than words”, or having to “walk the talk.”

I’d like to make a point to shift perspectives here a bit: from the organizational behemoths we cannot influence, to ourselves, which is all we can influence.

From Apple’s perspective, one developer’s protest doesn’t matter. It’s noise, it’s not even registered.

Also, from a U.S. citizen’s perspective (those that don’t like the current government’s politics), protesting Apple doesn’t matter, because Big Tech’s action is just a symptom. The cause is the government. They may call you out for fighting the wrong fight.

Even if it’s true that the real cause is something else, the argument is moot, because you and I cannot change anything on that level anyway. Individual action is meaningless, we’ve established that. (Collectivist action isn’t, but that’s not the point this time.)

So why bother?

Because bothering is all we have.

Because acting in accordance with one’s values on all personal fronts is the only way to actually manifest any pressure and change. This includes protests and boycotts and writing open letters. It also includes going to demonstrations, writing to elected officials, all of that. The task for you and me is not to “change policies”, because we can’t, but to make ourselves heard so that those who can, will.

On an individual scale, it’s all about not giving up. It’s only about not giving up. Of not falling into the convenient trap of passivity that renders you truly powerless, because you stopped trying one day and forgot how to effect that you care.

Not giving up is a practice. You need to constantly not be giving up.

Voice your protest so that you get used to voicing your protest.

Act in accordance with your values in small things so that you’re less afraid of the big ones.

Without practice, we humans are ineffective. That’s true for cooking tasty meals, it’s true for master craftsmanship like woodworking, it’s evident in lifting heavy weights, and it shows in acting competently in times of acute high stress that requires being used to making decision, quickly – be it physical attacks in war or on the street, in dog training, or stock market movements in finance.

Not protesting Apple as a developer would mean to remain silent instead of giving the dissatisfaction a voice. Stopping here means to never escalate further, “when it really matters”, whatever that would mean. This is uprooting a plant in spring, yet expecting it to blossom in the summer. It cannot be done.

Not protesting, even though you want to, would mean you silence yourself before speaking up, not because of, but in spite of not much being on the line.

In German, there’s the beautiful image of “having a pair of scissors in one’s head” when doing this. Silencing oneself is more dangerous that being silenced, because nobody else can help you fight your internal censors.

Not protesting, even though you want to, would become the most effective expression of your actual values. Inaction is dangerous, because it introduces a self-reinforcing, vicious cycle. It forms your character.

That’s where it matters.