As with so many leaders who emerge at the grass roots level trying to right a wrong, I began at the level of an activity, graduated to thinking about tactics, and struggled to understand how to shape strategy, with only limited notions of the tools that were available to me. 

— Douglas A. Johnson, in The Need for New Tactics 

(First in a three-part series on moving from activity, to tactics, to strategy.)

How does one become an activist? How does someone grow from being oblivious to larger issues to caring about them? And, how does one move from being a “concerned citizen” to the crucial step of devoting precious time and energy to taking determined, organized action for a cause?