Ih my youthful years as an actor “agency” was a professional goal, for if you were signed up by a talent agency your career would be managed by agents speaking in your behalf.
So I was surprised to discover that agency also has an opposite meaning. The Internet defines it as the “ability to make independent choices…and take control”
Agency is in full bloom with my writing. I direct my characters to behave in whatever brave manner I choose. But my personal history is a different story. Like myriad other people – especially women – I’m often silenced by my fear of disapproval or losing a friendship or love, if I dare to voice my own truth. {There should be a college course in Personal Independence!).
I thought of this when I heard about Reverend Mariann Budde’s confrontational sermon at the Inauguration. In full view of a president who wasn’t likely to appreciate her lecture she courageously pleaded for mercy for trans children and immigrants. She’s been called “fearless” for doing this, but she wasn’t. As she later confided, she’d been “scared.” But she refused to let fear defeat her!
I would add another definition of agency: Respect for your own strength and the courage to use it.