Category — general

I was struck after reading this article that I had never really thought about what it means to be a citizen. Sure, I took civics in high school and I vaguely remember some class in college that touched on citizenship and what it meant but until now, it’s a topic I didn’t pay much attention, assuming that how I lived my life qualified me as a citizen.

I’ve never felt like I was part of my government until this last election; to be fair, I never really wanted to be a part of it, choosing instead to let government do what government does and hope they don’t meddle too much in my affairs. With the way things are today, economically, socially, environmentally and any other -ally I can conjure up I feel like I’m left with no choice but to be a responsible citizen. But I don’t feel forced to do it, dragged kicking and screaming into the democratic community bath. Instead, I feel drawn to it, like a home-cooked warm meal on Sunday evening.

President Obama said many things in his inaugural address. Among them were talk of transforming schools and colleges and, in so many words, transforming parents to encourage them to take a more active role in their children’s education. How is this responsible citizenship? Easy, children are our future so to let them go to rot is to let ourselves go to rot. I remember my grandfather, and even my father, uttering that hopeless phrase, “Kids these days!” Well, kids these days need all the help they can get, all the help we can give them. And not just for the next couple of years, forever.

You’ve got all sorts or experts, pundits, critics and theorists exclaiming how horrible we’ve been as a nation, how we don’t save, how we live for the moment and are just so damn short-sighted. Well, looks like the rubber will be meeting the road now and we’ll see how much we value things with real value; education, commitment to long-term goals and providing a nation for our descendants they can inherit with pride.

How can you become a more responsible citizen? If you live in San Francisco, perhaps you could find some time to volunteer or some money to donate to the good folks at 826 Valencia. I’ve been working with them in various capacities over the past four years and they are a fantastic local organization with a nation-wide presence. Not from San Francisco, see if they have a chapter in your city.