Who will evoke change?

I was reading, the other day, about Mary Wollstonecraft, a British novelist. She was considered radical in her time, leading the way in what we would later call feminism, but her views at that time had no title other than madness.
“I do not wish [women] to have power over men; but over themselves,” she wrote.
I can only imagine how her thoughts were received in London during her lifetime, 1759 to 1797. She spoke up for educational reform, insisting that women have the same rights to education as men and she had no interest in a marriage that was armed to limit her rights. Society was more concerned with her two children born out of wedlock than her wisdom and writing. She died from complications of childbirth at the age of thirty-eight, before she had any idea she was a visionary, without knowing her writing would create change in her world and beyond.
The significance of Mary Wollstonecraft’s life for me is how she challenged the status quo despite a childhood with an abusive father. She left home early, the abuse she endured creating outrage within her when the opposite might have been more likely. Women didn’t gain the right to vote in Great Britain until 1918, yet here was Mary, a young woman defying the odds and demanding equal rights 140 earlier.
Things seem utterly hopeless at times when we look within our own borders at Canada’s lack of equal opportunity and the squashing of existing rights. Looking outside our borders and seeing the same on a large scale becomes daunting, paralyzing at times. Who will be our visionaries of the 2020s? Whose voice will evoke change?
It’s easy to spot those who have dedicated their lives to raising awareness. The likes of David Suzuki, whom I am sure is weary of the burden at times when it appears no one is listening. Mr. Suzuki is eighty-three years old and has battled social norms his entire adult life to save the planet, but here we are still denying there is a problem. Nelson Mandela certainly stood fast against racism, a symbol of perseverance. I believe the writings of Tanya Talaga and Alicia Elliott and the memory of Chanie Wenjack will be held up as a truth we look to from which to create a roadmap for positive change, a quality education available to everyone and basic human rights will be a guarantee.
A courageous visionary is one who takes a stand when it is anything but popular, when she/he is a voice in the darkness. I challenge myself to pay attention to the words of those who wouldn’t be an obvious and easy choice. I listen to the opinions that are sometimes hard to hear, who make me fidget and feel unease. It is easy to jump into a parade of voices that echo our own and it is an important undertaking for sure. But I will check the edges, I will pay heed to those who are thinking outside the box, who are colouring outside the lines. And though voices are sometimes raised in exhausted and frustrated anger, it is the message we must hear, not the delivery.