“The great end of life is not knowledge but action.”
Thomas Henry Huxley, British biologist (1825-1895)
Advocacy has pretty much become a major buzzword within recent years. The term was, at a time, only associated with the legal profession, for after all, this is what a lawyer is; an advocate: one that speaks on behalf of, or pleads for the cause of another. But now, the term has become applicable to all such persons and activities that plead for and promote causes, whether inside or outside a courtroom, albeit mostly not with the type of compensation that bona fide lawyers can demand. Merriam-Webster Online tells us that the word ‘advocate’ comes the Latin advocare, meaning ‘to call.’ And indeed, this what advocates do when they speak, write or whatever activity they perform with respect to whatever cause they represent. They seek to summon or call attention to the issue which they believe [...]