"So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear...itself." President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
FDR spoke these words in his first inaugural address in 1933. At that time, the country was in the depths of its greatest economic depression. The general public was captured by one of two emotions at that time, depression or fear. For a new President to say these words and stand up the fear of that moment must have taken tremendous courage.
It takes courage to stand up in the midst of fear. Think about it. How many times have you found yourself in situations filled with fear? Loss of a job, home, loved one, marriage, friendship. Physical fights, verbal fights, and emotional fights. How many times have you stood up to those moments versus the times you've wilted under the pressure? We've all been there and we'll all be there a few more times before it's all said and done.
Right now, our country is in a similar place as it was in 1933. No, we're not in the middle of a great depression (of course some might suggest otherwise, with good reason), but in some ways it's actually worse. In 1933, there was no such thing as "out sourcing" or "global competition" or a "global economy" There were no definitive superpowers, most civilized nations had there own niche or a role to play on their respective continent. The world we live in is a much more complex and interconnected one, you only need look as far back as 2008 for proof. When the U.S. had the economic version of the flu in 2008, the rest of the world caught a cold, because our world market makes it so that if any major economy suffers, we all feel a measure of its pain.
The U.S. has a public education system in such disarray and dysfunction that people would rather destroy it than go through the trouble of trying to fix it. Social security and Medicare (two more issues that didn't exist in 1933) are either ready to run out or are facing the proposal of major cuts. Our national debt is so high that our "friends" whom have been buying up that debt because they believed it was a sure bet that they'd get a pretty good return on their investment once rebounded are wondering out loud about how much more debt they can afford to invest in. Elected officials at the state and federal level would much rather "win" and leave millions of its constituents out in the cold, than "lose" and sacrifice for the betterment of the people they all swore an oath to represent. Lastly, the country has been stripped of its long standing (though some believed undeserved) superior credit rating of AAA. These are just a few in a long list of domestic issues we're facing and I won't even touch the international ones, I'll save that for another post.
There are a lot of reasons every person living in this country should be afraid right now. I'm not going to go to the well of "out of our darkest moments, this country has risen to the challenge, time and time again, only to come out of it stronger and more able than before!" and I'll tell you why, because that would be a lie (as well as trite). Our country was a country born out of conflict, but it was only after that initial conflict that we came out a better product than we were when the fighting began. Since then we have fought and fought and fought throughout our history and while we have gained more allies, markets, wealth, and military experience & power.
One thing we have not gained as a nation after all of the times we've "risen to the challenge"is wisdom. We still find ways to put the best face forward on our mistakes and see our successes as proof that we are without a doubt, the "best and the brightest". When the truth is, we are so obsessed with being the best that we won't dare stop to take a look at the mirror for fear that we'll see pimples, scars, discoloring or hairs out of place. All things that can be dealt with, if we can get over the fear of imperfection or even (shudder) no longer being the brightest star.
What I will say is that out of fear, comes growth. Out of fear, if we so choose, we have the opportunity to shine a spotlight on our weaknesses. Life brings us fear so that we might become aware of the weak places hidden inside of us and be able to strengthen them to become the very best versions of ourselves. Geoffrey Canada created the Harlem Achievement Zone in 1990 out of fear that children in Harlem were more likely to die from drugs, gang violence or poverty than succeed in education and attend college. The One Campaign was created out of fear that third world countries would not commit to the civic and economic infrastructures necessary to reduce or eliminate poverty among their own people.
A father might decide to get more active in his child's school to address his fear that he's not involved enough in his daughter's life. An engineer could chose to volunteer her time to a local school or non-profit organization to stand up to her fear that there are not enough young people actively involved in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. An African-American man with an advanced degree, years of non-profit/political management and educational coordination experience might choose to create a program or organization focused on civic education and civic engagement to stand up to his fear that generations of youth are growing up without any connection to the democracy that their country was founded on.
You could decide to take the fear you have about something going on in your neighborhood, city, county, state or country and stand up to it, turning that fear into a beautiful opportunity. Or...you could just continue to be afraid.
What will you do?
Monday, August 29, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
A Life of Civic Engagement
Most of the time I talk about being civically engaged through methods such as voting, joining community groups or boards, etc. Today I spoke with a living example of civic engagement. For the sake of anonymity we'll call him JM. We crossed each other's paths while I was checking out the UT Austin Alumni Center during a field trip my program was taking on campus and JM was taking pictures of the center's main lounge. He explained to me that eventhough he attended UT as a student many years ago, he'd never been able to visit the alumni center. While a student at UT, JM became ill and his illness significantly limited his experience as a first-year student and eventually caused him to drop out of school altogether.
After recovering from his illness, JM kicked around for a while before finally earning his degree in Education from a local institution. Flash forward to the present time and he is now teaching Math at a high school in the Rio Grande Valley. He tells me that he has too many students in each of his classes, most with students that often worry more about being shot or having a roof over their head than solving equations and proving theorems. Still, JM smiles when talking about a few students that "get it'. Students to whom he has pledged to do whatever is possible to help them get where they want to go. This simple, unassuming and ordinary looking man, astonishes me with story after story of connections that he has made with his students and their families.
There was one story in particular about several students on the brink, torn between school and gang affiliation, with tremendous potential and a former student (also gang affiliated) who visited with JM after school. The former student asked JM if any of his students were giving him any trouble or not showing up to class and upon hearing about these students the former student assured JM he would "take care of it". From that moment on, those same students might have skipped other classes, but never JM's class. JM gives me a dizzying list of all of his ideas and thoughts about what his kids need and the ways that he's able to get his kids to open up see a way to a life better than the current one that is a daily fight to survive.
As I listen to JM brag about some of his students and articulate the hope that he has for his future pupils, I cannot help, but wonder if JM will ever do anything more than teach Math in the Rio Grande Valley. As if on cue, JM tells me that he is considering a return to UT to enhance his education, but isn't sure whether or not doing so would be worth it. I don't know if JM will take his gifts and passion any further than the depressed region of southern Texas and I don't know if he and I will ever cross paths again. What I am sure of is that while JM may not see it, he is a living, breathing example of what it means to be civically engaged. JM is not just teaching the kids in his class, he is showing them support and accountability that most of the world around them doesn't have time or the energy to offer.
JM is investing in his community the greatest resource his has in his possession, himself. By doing so, he is proving that it doesn't take much to become civically engaged, just eyes to see a need and the will to answer it.
After recovering from his illness, JM kicked around for a while before finally earning his degree in Education from a local institution. Flash forward to the present time and he is now teaching Math at a high school in the Rio Grande Valley. He tells me that he has too many students in each of his classes, most with students that often worry more about being shot or having a roof over their head than solving equations and proving theorems. Still, JM smiles when talking about a few students that "get it'. Students to whom he has pledged to do whatever is possible to help them get where they want to go. This simple, unassuming and ordinary looking man, astonishes me with story after story of connections that he has made with his students and their families.
There was one story in particular about several students on the brink, torn between school and gang affiliation, with tremendous potential and a former student (also gang affiliated) who visited with JM after school. The former student asked JM if any of his students were giving him any trouble or not showing up to class and upon hearing about these students the former student assured JM he would "take care of it". From that moment on, those same students might have skipped other classes, but never JM's class. JM gives me a dizzying list of all of his ideas and thoughts about what his kids need and the ways that he's able to get his kids to open up see a way to a life better than the current one that is a daily fight to survive.
As I listen to JM brag about some of his students and articulate the hope that he has for his future pupils, I cannot help, but wonder if JM will ever do anything more than teach Math in the Rio Grande Valley. As if on cue, JM tells me that he is considering a return to UT to enhance his education, but isn't sure whether or not doing so would be worth it. I don't know if JM will take his gifts and passion any further than the depressed region of southern Texas and I don't know if he and I will ever cross paths again. What I am sure of is that while JM may not see it, he is a living, breathing example of what it means to be civically engaged. JM is not just teaching the kids in his class, he is showing them support and accountability that most of the world around them doesn't have time or the energy to offer.
JM is investing in his community the greatest resource his has in his possession, himself. By doing so, he is proving that it doesn't take much to become civically engaged, just eyes to see a need and the will to answer it.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
It's That Time Again
I can still remember staring at several televisions in a party held by prominent Democrats at a prominent hotel in Downtown Boston, waiting for the inevitable to happen...and then it did, Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States. My country, which had teased of a possibility of a post-racial reality far too may times for me to count, had actually elected a Black man, of mixed origin and race, the leader of its nation.
I then had the unique pleasure and misfortune to get a ticket to the Inauguration (looking back, it seems as many people got a ticket to that event as have claimed to have walked in the Selma March). Despite spending most of that day walking around and standing in lines with my brother in lieu of seeing any of the ceremony in person, after cooling off, the history of that moment hit me and I got the biggest smile on my face. Ah it feels like it all just happened yesterday.
RIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGGGGG!!
The alarm goes off and just like that, the election cycle for the 2012 Presidential Election Cycle is upon us. For those of you who, like me, are prone to think the election cycle just keeps coming sooner and sooner; some of you might remember that Senator Barack Obama (Ill.-D) announced his candidacy for the 2008 Election in February of 2007. All that said, it still feels like some of us (me included) are waking up from an open bar party that was supposed to last four hours and ended going on through the night and into the next decade.
Thankfully, we've had the conflict in Libya, Bank/Car Bail Outs, a Republican takeover of the House, the conservative attack on public employees and collective bargaining (Wisconsin, Ohio, etc.) as well as Voter ID, Abortion (Texas, Ohio, etc.) and Immigration (Texas, Arizona, etc), the Healthcare debate, Healthcare Legislation and expected appeals. Lastly, the federal and state-by-state budget debate that has dominated the first quarter of 2011 and looks to dominate the rest of the year, to help us sober up - rough as it may be, it's time we all sober up.
This past week President Obama announced his re-election bid for 2012 with the slogan, "Are you IN?" Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has already announced his campaign for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination and there are several other hopefuls, including Donald Trump, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Texas Governor Rick Perry, waiting in the wings.
In 2007-2008, President Obama made his campaign's slogan, "Yes We Can" so popular that it has been co-opted by such divergent parties as Bankruptcy Lawyers like Roni Deutch and Tea Party supporters. Don't believe me, just google "Tea Party rally signs" and "Roni Deutch ads" and after a little digging, you'll see them. Still, as popular as that slogan became, even spawning a Will.i.am collaborative song (that I still listen to on occasion), the meaning has yet to approach any real measure of substantial success where it really matters, citizens.
It's been almost four years since the slogan, "Yes We Can" took this nation and world by the throat and gave it a good shake and what's changed? Yes, voters helped elect the first Black President in this country's history. That was almost three years ago. In the world of sports, entertainment, business or most any element of popular culture, if a person, team, artist, band, entertainer, school, corporation, etc goes three years without doing anything significant, they are all but forgotten about. However, when it comes to the leaders of our government or ourselves as citizens, one big victory every three years is apparently something with which a person can be content.
How many of us know who our local elected/appointed officials are? How many of us voted in the most recent election in our area? How many of us know how the budget debates in our respective states are going to affect our community today and the next year? How many of us have gone to a neighborhood association meeting, volunteered at a local non-profit or have any idea where (if you associate with a particular political party) your city or county political party office is located?
For the sake of full disclosure my answer to those questions are as follows: 1. Not as many as I'd like. 2. I did. 3. I do. 4. I know where my local Democratic Party office is but have not volunteered anywhere or gone to a neighborhood association meeting. While it's great that I know so much about my community, I count myself as more guilty than most people who aren't civically active, because in my opinion it's far worse to know and do nothing with that knowledge than to just be completely ignorant.
As the adage goes, with knowledge comes power and with power comes responsibility.
I just recently earned my Masters Degree, placing me in the higher percentile of education reached by the average person in this country. Yet, with all this knowledge and experience I've gained, I (in my estimation) have really done nothing to make a difference in my community, state or country. I say all of this because while I spend most of my time on this blog bemoaning the lack of civic engagement in this country and the tragedy of those who need to be most involved typically being the least involved, I understand on a personal level just how hard it is to make civic engagement a priority in one's life.
And that's the beauty of the municipal, state-wide and federal election cycles. Each cycle acts as a mirror that we can choose to look into and really see where we stand as far as the imprint we're leaving on our community, state, country and world is concerned. It is an opportunity to stop for a few (or 18) months and take stock or where we are and where our world is and with as busy as life can get, the value of moments like this cannot be over-valued. These are the moments where we can choose to ask, "Am I a part of the problem or am I a part of the solution?"
While it may be easier for groups like Rasmussen, USA Today, New York Times and Gallup to poll citizens on how well/poorly the President, Congress or Political Parties are doing. I think it would be more telling to poll citizens on how well they think voters are doing at being actively engaged in the governing process, because that (more than anything) can steer the compass of those elected/appointed officials who represent the civic interest in our democratic system.
Yes, it's that time again. Time for complex issues to get squeezed into 1.5 minute commercials and 15 word sound bites. Time for voting records to come out of the closet and go out the window. Time for people that don't live in your state to start affecting who represents you for the next 2 - 4 years. It's also time to stand up, take a good hard look in the mirror and do whatever we can to make the world around us better. In the end, it's not up to the President, your Senators, Congressmen, State Legislators, City Council Members or Mayor to make a difference.
It's up to you.
I then had the unique pleasure and misfortune to get a ticket to the Inauguration (looking back, it seems as many people got a ticket to that event as have claimed to have walked in the Selma March). Despite spending most of that day walking around and standing in lines with my brother in lieu of seeing any of the ceremony in person, after cooling off, the history of that moment hit me and I got the biggest smile on my face. Ah it feels like it all just happened yesterday.
RIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGGGGG!!
The alarm goes off and just like that, the election cycle for the 2012 Presidential Election Cycle is upon us. For those of you who, like me, are prone to think the election cycle just keeps coming sooner and sooner; some of you might remember that Senator Barack Obama (Ill.-D) announced his candidacy for the 2008 Election in February of 2007. All that said, it still feels like some of us (me included) are waking up from an open bar party that was supposed to last four hours and ended going on through the night and into the next decade.
Thankfully, we've had the conflict in Libya, Bank/Car Bail Outs, a Republican takeover of the House, the conservative attack on public employees and collective bargaining (Wisconsin, Ohio, etc.) as well as Voter ID, Abortion (Texas, Ohio, etc.) and Immigration (Texas, Arizona, etc), the Healthcare debate, Healthcare Legislation and expected appeals. Lastly, the federal and state-by-state budget debate that has dominated the first quarter of 2011 and looks to dominate the rest of the year, to help us sober up - rough as it may be, it's time we all sober up.
This past week President Obama announced his re-election bid for 2012 with the slogan, "Are you IN?" Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has already announced his campaign for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination and there are several other hopefuls, including Donald Trump, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Texas Governor Rick Perry, waiting in the wings.
In 2007-2008, President Obama made his campaign's slogan, "Yes We Can" so popular that it has been co-opted by such divergent parties as Bankruptcy Lawyers like Roni Deutch and Tea Party supporters. Don't believe me, just google "Tea Party rally signs" and "Roni Deutch ads" and after a little digging, you'll see them. Still, as popular as that slogan became, even spawning a Will.i.am collaborative song (that I still listen to on occasion), the meaning has yet to approach any real measure of substantial success where it really matters, citizens.
It's been almost four years since the slogan, "Yes We Can" took this nation and world by the throat and gave it a good shake and what's changed? Yes, voters helped elect the first Black President in this country's history. That was almost three years ago. In the world of sports, entertainment, business or most any element of popular culture, if a person, team, artist, band, entertainer, school, corporation, etc goes three years without doing anything significant, they are all but forgotten about. However, when it comes to the leaders of our government or ourselves as citizens, one big victory every three years is apparently something with which a person can be content.
How many of us know who our local elected/appointed officials are? How many of us voted in the most recent election in our area? How many of us know how the budget debates in our respective states are going to affect our community today and the next year? How many of us have gone to a neighborhood association meeting, volunteered at a local non-profit or have any idea where (if you associate with a particular political party) your city or county political party office is located?
For the sake of full disclosure my answer to those questions are as follows: 1. Not as many as I'd like. 2. I did. 3. I do. 4. I know where my local Democratic Party office is but have not volunteered anywhere or gone to a neighborhood association meeting. While it's great that I know so much about my community, I count myself as more guilty than most people who aren't civically active, because in my opinion it's far worse to know and do nothing with that knowledge than to just be completely ignorant.
As the adage goes, with knowledge comes power and with power comes responsibility.
I just recently earned my Masters Degree, placing me in the higher percentile of education reached by the average person in this country. Yet, with all this knowledge and experience I've gained, I (in my estimation) have really done nothing to make a difference in my community, state or country. I say all of this because while I spend most of my time on this blog bemoaning the lack of civic engagement in this country and the tragedy of those who need to be most involved typically being the least involved, I understand on a personal level just how hard it is to make civic engagement a priority in one's life.
And that's the beauty of the municipal, state-wide and federal election cycles. Each cycle acts as a mirror that we can choose to look into and really see where we stand as far as the imprint we're leaving on our community, state, country and world is concerned. It is an opportunity to stop for a few (or 18) months and take stock or where we are and where our world is and with as busy as life can get, the value of moments like this cannot be over-valued. These are the moments where we can choose to ask, "Am I a part of the problem or am I a part of the solution?"
While it may be easier for groups like Rasmussen, USA Today, New York Times and Gallup to poll citizens on how well/poorly the President, Congress or Political Parties are doing. I think it would be more telling to poll citizens on how well they think voters are doing at being actively engaged in the governing process, because that (more than anything) can steer the compass of those elected/appointed officials who represent the civic interest in our democratic system.
Yes, it's that time again. Time for complex issues to get squeezed into 1.5 minute commercials and 15 word sound bites. Time for voting records to come out of the closet and go out the window. Time for people that don't live in your state to start affecting who represents you for the next 2 - 4 years. It's also time to stand up, take a good hard look in the mirror and do whatever we can to make the world around us better. In the end, it's not up to the President, your Senators, Congressmen, State Legislators, City Council Members or Mayor to make a difference.
It's up to you.
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