What is an advocate?

As a product of the quiet 50′s and then the chaotic 60′s, I saw rapid change with lots of national anger and dissatisfaction. My view of advocate was a protester with their fist in the air, yelling for justice. It may  have been one description, at one time, but in my mind it is a more powerful description today.

To care enough about people or a condition to facilitate knowledge, change, and improvement is what I think an advocate is today. Here is the Encarta English Dictionary definition(s):

ad·vo·cate [ ádvə kàyt ] transitive verb  (past and past participle ad·vo·cat·ed, present participle ad·vo·cat·ing, 3rd person present singular ad·vo·cates) Definition: recommend or support something: to support or speak in favor of something noun  (plural ad·vo·cates) Definition: 1. somebody giving support: somebody who supports or speaks in favor of something a tireless advocate of social reform 2. helper: somebody who acts or intercedes on behalf of another 3. law legal representative: somebody such as a lawyer, who pleads another’s case in a legal forum

Living with a condition or disease can turn you into an advocate, especially if you care to make this world a better place. That’s what happened to me. Here I will tell you my story so that you might become one as well.