What we are, that only can we see. All that Adam had, all that Caesar could, you have and can do. Adam called his house, heaven and earth; Caesar called his house, Rome; you perhaps call yours, a cobler's trade; a hundred acres of ploughed land; or a scholar's garret. Yet line for line and point for point, your dominion is as great as theirs, though without fine names. Build, therefore, your own world.
_ "Nature,"
Ralph Waldo Emerson
What a mess things seem to be coming to in this country. Economic slowdown, war in Iraq, universal dissatisfaction with our elected officials, gas and fuel prices, taxes, dysfunctional medical payment system, inflation, growing disparity between the wealthy and everybody else, and a general sense by many that we as a nation are in a free fall to perfidy. The resulting sense of futility is dangerous and is threatening to be contagious. Is there no relief in sight?
Would it surprise you to think that a positive resolution to our problems may just rest with you?
Even if your favorite candidate is elected president, are you convinced that this person will effect the type of change that you feel is necessary for this country to get back on the right track? Standing between you and your political champion is a small army of lobbyists, big-time spenders, a full calendar of fundraising events, and a punitive party system that holds those who stray from the fold in deep contempt. For how many years have our politicians attempted to produce "chickens in every pot"? Issuing "IOU's" to our children and grandchildren, the Chinese and hazy, pipe-dream apparitions still in the process of taking form are just a means of giving the aforementioned chickens a place to come back to roost.
You and I in many ways are on our own. Hey, maybe that's not as bad as it seems. We do have some options.
When literary critic and college professor Granville Hicks moved to rural Grafton in upstate New York in the mid-1930s, he was driven by his "Teapot Dome"-derived Marxist passion to bring about a political revolution in the United States. At the federal level, he had become a "person of special interest."
In Grafton he was viewed as a flatlander, naive about practical living in the country and an anomaly in a conservative Republican culture. As Hicks waged his political battle through radical periodicals at the national level, he began to take interest in village life as well.
He organized a library, became a trustee in the local school district, edited the local town bulletin, joined the volunteer fire department and became a regular attendee at village and town meetings.
In 1939, when the Soviets signed a non-aggression pact with the Nazis, Hicks became disillusioned and executed a high-profile resignation from the Communist Party.
Discouraged by its shortcomings, he eventually became an outspoken critic of its doctrine. During this same period in his life, Granville Hicks had become enamored with small-town living. As he grew more frustrated with politics at the national level, he transferred more of his energy into civic organization at home. Hicks discovered that it was at the local level, in the small towns, that it was possible to have a free and effective hand in developing and experiencing the positive qualities of a true democracy.
May is Older Americans Month, and its theme is: "Working Together for Strong, Healthy, and Supportive Communities." This is especially fitting for seniors (myself included), because we have lived during a time when our communities (with some exceptions) were strong, healthy and offered a sense of belonging to their component citizens. Now, many years later, the onus of responsibility lies with us to push the community-building agenda forward to ensuing generations as a tool in healing our ailing democracy.
This September, our agency, in partnership with Cornell Cooperative Extension, will be sponsoring a camp for adults at 4-H Camp Shankitunk near Delhi.
It will look like a kids' camp in many respects and there will be opportunities for overnight campers as well as day campers. We'll have games and songs and crafts and activities designed to keep us healthy both physically and spiritually. We'll also be exposed to some community-building discussions and activities. We're hoping to inspire our adult campers to take something back to their respective hometowns that will serve as a seed for community enrichment.
I hope that you'll consider becoming one of our campers. More importantly, as busy as you are, I hope that you'll consider increasing your efforts to make your hometown a better place in which to live.
As Granville Hicks discovered, democracy must be reborn at the grass-roots level, in the hamlets and villages and in the wards and neighborhoods, if we want to right the ship of state and regain the respect of the world.
Tom Briggs is executive director of the Delaware County Office for the Aging.
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