I am a voice, not an activist

A random person just emailed me with the following quote that I publish here with permission:

Rick, you are to respiratory therapy what Rush Limbaugh is to Conservatism.

 I never really thought of it that way, but it's probably true.  I don't tell people what to think or how to think.  Little of what I write is something my readers haven't already thought of before.  I simply am a voice saying what my readers already know and believe yet don't hear or read anywhere else. I articulate ideas and give other respiratory therapists the means to to the same.  

So there's really nothing new here.  And in order to articulate, in order to draw people to my blog, I simply take what other people have written and write about that.  I often use what other people have said or written, mostly what doctors say to me, and write about it.  I'm entertaining.  I'm an entertainer.  I use irreverent humor to articulate what you already know or thought. 

I don't think of myself as a leader.  I do not think of myself as an activist. 

Speaking of activist, you'd be amazed how many people email me with things such as, "Considering you're an activist in the field of respiratory therapy, I would like you to participate in such and such." 

I used to write them back with something like:  "I really appreciate, with all due respect, the offer.  However, I do not consider myself an activist: I am a writer.  I create ideas; I share ideas, I do not act on them."