One simple sentence from Bill Bradley's book refuses to leave my head:
I am a citizen.
It's a statement of fact, and a right that every person born in America or naturalized can claim. It's also one of those things most of us take for granted, and why wouldn't we? Think about it. How often do any of us get up in the morning and identify ourselves first and foremost as citizens?
There's something grand and powerful in the center-stage notion of citizenship, but the grind of daily life can leave most of us feeling like the extras in someone's else's play. We're a husband, wife or partner. We're someone's mom or dad, aunt or uncle, sister or brother. Some of us are bosses, most of us are employees, and all of us have evenings when meeting our obligations leave us tired to the bone.
Still, even then, we are citizens. And if we repeat "I am a citizen" over and over, as we head to work, drop the kids off to school, even mow our lawn and bag the trash, it can evolve into a mantra of activism.
Then what?
As Bradley points out, there are varying degrees of activism, and all of them matter -- but only to the degree we're willing to invest. The future, he insists, is ours to build or squander. And the question he's really posing is: What are you waiting for?
"Democracy," he writes, "depends on citizens who make waves...on citizens who refuse to mind their own business."
He's on to something there. Asking us to think about someone other than ourselves isn't exactly a leap in today's culture. It's not as if most of us are burrowing through life with our heads to the ground, oblivious to those around us. We spend plenty of time and money tracking the comings and goings of celebrities, for example, reading People magazine and blogs. We plop down in front of the 100-plus channels piped into our living rooms by cable and satellite dishes, absorbing the theatrics of so-called reality TV. Gossip about other people's lives courses through every workplace, church group and potluck dinner.
No, today's Americans can hardly be accused of minding their own business.
How do we redirect our curiosity? And why bother? As Bradley himself concedes, engaging in the business of democracy often consists of being "persistently annoying to others as well as being stubborn and repetitive." That sounds pretty scary to a lot of people. Most of us want to be liked, and if your top priority is for everyone to like you then you're pretty much stuck with standing for absolutely nothing.
Pay enough attention, though, and life intervenes. Activism starts brewing in your innards and seeps out in unpredictable ways, big and small. Maybe you're out running errands, for example, and you find yourself tsk-tsking or even laughing out loud when you see a mother pull up in her gas-gulping Hummer. Then and there, you decide it's time to buy a hybrid. Or you watch your neighbors strap big bottles of pesticides to their hips just to shoot dandelions, and you decide to go organic. Perhaps you've read one too many stories about election fraud, and volunteer to become a poll worker.
The key is to step up even when you don't feel ready, even if you're scared. As I've always told my kids, act brave even when you aren't, and eventually the courage will come.
I am reminded of a woman I met last year during my husband Sherrod Brown's race in Ohio for the U.S. Senate. I had taken a leave of absence from my job as a newspaper columnist to campaign for Sherrod, and one evening I met a soft-spoken woman who had decided it was her turn to step up and be counted. Her son had served in the military in Iraq. He came home safely, but he came home to a different mother. She didn't want one more family member to suffer they way she had, night after night, worrying about her kid. She wanted all the troops to come home. She was living the response to Bradley's admonishment: "A true citizen doesn't retreat to his or her private pleasures when the price of public silence is that society's big decisions are made by fewer and fewer people."
The mother approached me at a library in Knox County, where I was scheduled to give a speech. She was small and timid, and she apologized even as she asked if she could say a few words before I talked.
"It's not enough that my son survived," she told me. "I hate this war, and I want to bring our men and women home."
She hesitated, then leaned in. "I'm not a good speaker," she said. "I get all nervous."
I reminded her of what Maggie Kuhn, the founder of the Gray Panthers said: Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.
There were more than a hundred women in the room that night, and they sat stone silent as that mother softly pleaded with them to help her bring the troops home. I knew that not everyone agreed with her, but not one of them interrupted her. Afterwards, many of them came up to thank her for her courage, and some asked how they could get help.
And just like that, one mother with a shaky voice convinced some of her fellow Americans that it was time to stop minding their own business.
Connie Schultz is the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist of The Plain Dealer and author of the upcoming book, . . . and His Lovely Wife: A Memoir from the Woman Beside the Man (Random House, June 19, 2007).
Learn more about activism and citizenship in Bill Bradley's The New American Story >>
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Comments: 33
Western definitions based on western culture are great beatitudes in democratic free societies. Else where they are irrelevant and therein lies the global problems we are presently faced with in this 21st computer dependant mass comunicative world society we have evolved into.
I agree with the town meeting thing although with the heated atmosphere in this country the meetings might mutate into lynching parties. Australia still has the "soap box" thing going where someone will just literally get up on a box or "egg crate"" and just start spouting his political views and people gather and listen respectfully until he is done and invariable when he is done a counter view will be offered from the same platform.
Connie, thank you for sharing with us.
Capt. Seaweed, you really do need a great photo to go with the image we are forming of you.
As for Americans being hated, it is not true. Because of my work, I know people form many countries and religions. Most, not all, are friends. The average person in any country has a great deal of envy of the average American. Yes, they spout the media's lines about how awful America is, but when pressed they cannot give clear examples of how we have hurt them individually. In fact, they can usually only recall how we have helped. Cultural differences are clear, even among friends, but hate on a personal level doesn't seem to exist, even with non-friends. This covers Asians and Europeans, but not middle-easterners or predominately Muslim countries. I have virtually no experience with those societies and any comment would be prejudiced by what I gather from the media. In general, I think people anywhere are not much different from the average American just trying to survive regardless of what the government leaders do.
That's my two cents worth.
Jesse
Most curent members of Congress of the United States of America have conspired with members of 108th Congress to enable deadly war against the United States of America and betray its soldiers.
During 1959 and 1960 I studied documentation on discoveries about battle fatigue classified SECRET US/UK EYES ONLY in the classified documents vault of the Engineer Intelligence Center United States Army Europe. The U. S. government falsely claims I served as an air photo interpreter during first two terms of service in Army of the U. S. and correctly reports that I have had astigmatic eyesight (precluding work as photo interpreter) since before enlisted in Army. I was doing deep penetration surveillance in areas of operation of Army personnel serving as federal assassins. Some knew I would not accept assassination missions. By 1967 my colleagues serving as federal assassins in the Army found their assignments were becoming more criminal than political. It was arranged I would report to the Federal Bureau of Investigation on problem of murders securing distribution of heroin financing partisan guerrillas. I made report thru FBI mail drop of "Marcus Mann" Grand Central Station, New York City, in 1969 from Saigon; and I verified the report in Manhattan office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation after honorable discharge from the Army. Worldwide federal distribution of narcotics to finance "freedom fighters" was arranged with foreign officials during their assignment to U. S. Army class on long range patrolling at Nha Trang during March 1969; the class is subject of the book Recondo in which it is falsely reported that a jet fighter bomber rather than Air America served as our forward air control. The Justice Department of the United States of America informed us the assassination orders I reported were "properly sanctioned."
Report on direct experience of federal assassination projects required my service as long range patrol leader during which I could not tell my men they would surely incur battle fatigue when killing in line of duty; but I knew they were being properly treated to prevent disabling symptoms while serving with me. I did not learn until thirty years latter that some of them and many other discharged combat veterans since Second World War have been deliberately denied treatment by U. S. government for preventable symptoms of what is now officially classified "PTSD" - "Post Traumatic Stress Disorders" rather than shell shock or battle fatigue or guilt for sanctioned homicide.
In 1985 the U. S. government verified federal assassinations provoking effective retaliatory "terrorism" against Americans. By June 2001 I had advised the staff of each and every member of the Congress of the United States of America that failure to prosecute federal assassinations such as disclosed in Bob Woodward's history book Veil must be expected to result in more serious harm than experienced by crew of the destroyer Cole. In June 2001 two FBI Agents broke into my home and demanded I stop contacting Congress. I continued telephoning its members' offices until 9-11-01.
Evidence is irrefutable but ignored by most members of Congress.
Affined under penalty of perjury,
State of Illinois, County of Cook 17 May 2007
Harry P. Miller
150 W Maple 513
Chicago IL 60610
312 787 0565
No matter what your cause or your belief, if you feel something is wrong,the only way to change it is to stand up angd get noticed.
Many small people, doing many small things, can and DO change the world.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease... Squeak with me. LOUDER!!
We ARE citizens, but look at it on a much broader plain. Think OUT of that box!
All of us, you, me,anyone who cares to read this, and those that don't, everyone from every corner of the earth, ARE Citizens! But let's look at the entire picture. We, the intellectual, pragmatic, and of course EGOTISTICAL, species that we are, rely on boundries, whether it be by physical means, or psychological ones.
This "Boundries" MUST be torn down if we, and all of the life on our wonderful planet are to survive!
Sure, we go around, acting tough, defending ours, or anyone elses turf. Don't get me wrong, I do honor those who serve unwaivered in the Military. Not just for the U.S., but every country out there.
Politics have become the center stage. As Humans, living only on this one planet, we are all DOOMED! We bicker and fight. We gain turf then lose it. We walk around with boulder sized chips on our shoulders, and for what purpose? All of this is childish behavior.
All of us that live on Planet Earth MUST get along, Must trust the other and foremost MUST preserve our forests, wildlife and address, in full, Global Warming.
IT IS REAL! It is not some fanatical rantings. I noticed at an early age the way we are RUINING our planet from Pollution. The little child bickering and predudices, have allowed Genocide, and world hunger. See the signs! Our Earth is changing before our very eyes!
Some former Global warming theorist, now have turned against the idea, but they are wrong! I would like to have my generations down the line to know that polar bears are still surviving in the wild. That rivers which held habitates for many species are drying up. Weather patterns are changing at an alarming rate. Storms are bigger and stronger, so what does the Government do?, reclassify them to INCLUDE THE STRONGER STORMS WHICH ARE OCCURING. DAH! So if something worse happens, well, we will just go along and "add" it to the list. Well that list is getting worse all the time. Hurricanes, tornadoes, winter storms are all gaining in intensity. Look arround you! You might be fortunate enough, althouth where in the world is actually "Safe Ground" anymore!
No matter where you live, SOMETHING or another is headed your way, drought and fires are intensifying also.
Yes we are Citizens, but of those of a much BIGGER scale than we think.
ONLY WE CAN CHANGE THE FUTURE OF OUR PLANET. Any citizen will protect their home and family, but we are ALL home and due to evolution, we ARE famility.
Let's get on with it and work TOGETHER to build a future foundation for our children and their children.
Let there BE a world to grow up in!
My experience with friends, neighbors and relatives is that they have hearing problems. They listen to news programs that reinforce what they chose to believe. Even those whose family members suffer at the hands of the military, the Veterans Administration, FEMA, or whatever, often go right on believing in the basic decency of the system. How do you turn these people into activists?
We have set so many dangerous precedents in this country since 1999. Our children and grandchildren will pay a heavy price for our negligence and naivity. Still, individually, we do what we can. We dig deep for money we can't really afford, we sign petitions, we vote, we speak up in the face of hostility. We don't really have any other choice, do we?
Gave up this method and published a fast book called "Hurricane Recovery /The People's Village Plan" using part of my total plan in this non-fiction book written for the people to read and trying to get them to join together for their own recovery program and method I discribed.
No real action from this so now trying to set up lectures with slides to teach people my methods for a low cost, easy recovery, and to prepare in advance with proper construction that can with stand high winds, etc.
Still plugging away, but it is not easy because everyone wants someone else to take care of their troubles while they do nothing but sit back and cry for money and someone else to rebuild for them.
I have tried Gather Groups to get people interested, but with no sucess. Not one comment from my Disaster Discussion Group. Now I have started my own blog and so far no comments. May be doing something wrong but I am still trying as hard as I can.
By the way I have all the training and knowledge to carry out my projects so if I can get people moving I can certainly teach them what to do.
Is this activitism?
The same could be asked about democracy, patriotism, sense of duty, idea of nation, idea of citizenship versus idea of militant activism. That's a maze within a maze within another maze within mazes and mazes... ad infinitum.
I have a friend who is a rationalist, married to another rationalist and hence their house contains no religious symbols or graphics or icons. Once I remarked on it and he said to my surprise : ' Both of us had parents who were rationalists. But they were fanatic rationalists....' It never occurred to me that rationalists supposedly most level-headed can lend a touch of fanaticism to the opposite of fanaticism.
Our life today, justifies many more idiotic oxymorons, sadly. Lets see more activism rather than heart-burn. Or a plunge into mazes within mazes....
Cheerz!
Buy a hybrid? Buy organic fertilizer? That is activism? This is essential politics?
This is unfettered consumerism. I can turn on Oprah for this. Is everyone so worried about packing and selling themselves and their beliefs that we can't for one moment think that some things are more important than making everyone happy? And at the expense of whom or what - the Constitution and our Democracy?
It seems we are so afraid of offending each other that everyone is refusing to actually say anything. This is the antithesis of activism. This is self-imposed censorship.
People, get over yourselves! We're all grown ups. We can agree to disagree while we're searching for the truth. If you want to be an activist you're going to have to step on some toes out there. And you may find that getting out on a street corner (or a corner of cyberspace) and screaming like a banshee is good therapy. I highly recommend it personally.
You ask what we can do in the face of ignorance and chosen blindness. We can teach, gently, all whom we meet.
We can act honorably while still standing up for what we believe, live good lives, and still be activists. If you never stop speaking out, wherever, whenever, in small ways, you WILL be a catalyst for change. I've done it a thousand times. in the store, at a meeting, when giving a tour, heck, I did it to a stranger-now-friend at my own home today, and at the garden store yesterday.
As a human being, it is part of your job to teach the truth to those around you while still respecting them. It is possible, easy, and quite rewarding.
It is never too late to add a form of activism to your repoirtee'. Keep up the great work!
I can tell you the "problem" with your plan. You aren't charging for it. Sad but true, Americans beleive that a thing is only worth what they pay for it. Things freely given are considered worthless. Try charging $20 for your book, or thousands (at least) to the government for your plans. I can almost guarantee you will have a much better reception.
And to answer your question, yes, I do beleive that what you are doing is a form of activism. Activism isn't only about changing the world or a nation, it is also about changing hearts, changing minds, and even changing a day into a better one for a stranger you meet on the street. Opportunities are everywhere, you simply have to reach out and grab one.
Even a smile has the chance to change the world.
All except for one thing that I have seen myself. Sadly, the majority of people are NOT grown-ups in any real sense of the word. We are all, in our own little ways, petulant whiny children who are ready to spring an attack on anything that we even have an inkling that we dissagree with. Unfortunately, we also fight dirty with silly insults and comments that are unrelated to the topic at hand. I have seen it a million times, and it seems as if it will never stop.
I'm quite the ballsy loudmouth, but there are even times when I sensor myself for the comfort of a friend, or the approval of a fellow being. I don't think it iss wrong, but rather that it is very overdone in today's society.
As for your comments on the horrid plague of mass cunsumerism that masqueredes as activism, the American populace has been trained to never do for themselves, and to buy buy buy. You rarely see anyone saying "make a compost heap", "raise worms for organic fertilizer", ride a bike, or "walk everywhere". We have been trained to do everything the hard way. Easy, simple solutions we seem unable to see. Like I said before, we are a nation of children, all bearing the gimmie-now immediate gratification attitude. Not many people these days would rather spend a year nurturing a compost heap, but would gladly spend $5 on a bag of rich natural dirt.
The media and government have done their jobs well, and it will take much more than grousing about how we all seem unable to speak our minds clearly to make any real difference.
I want to see some toe-stepping, some annoyances, some banchee-screaming! I'm waiting for others to get active in a less-consumeristic way. It's about darned time! In what way (besides boycotting certain establishments) would you suggest implimenting activism for maximum effect?
"....consists of being 'persistently annoying to others as well as being stubborn and repetitive.'" Hooray, I think I qualify....