“Da Island Guy”
Sounding Off Social
Well, word on the street and in sports media is that the NFL’s got a problem. The season’s primetime schedule includes many games featuring the NY Jets. But the injury to Aaron Rodgers has put the league in a bind. While that story got big media coverage earlier, it’s now eclipsed in pop culture by the Taylor Swift Travis Kelce buzz. However, NFL honchos wanna keep their focus on pro football as a brand.
How ‘bout some other issues on the front burner? With local races and the Presidential election’s pre-season of debates and campaign events getting ramped-up, there’s simmering anxiety across hometown America. As a country, it feels like we’re in a daze. The ‘fog of war’ overseas in Ukraine, ‘fog of culture war’ here at home and fog of government shutdown drama. While that stuff’s been getting all the media coverage, we wanna keep our focus on America the Republic as the brand.
From surveying the landscape, it seems there’s a decreasing sense of ‘public good’ that’s hurting us as a society. We see it affecting businesses closing locations due to concerns in safety and theft. We see it with public officials who’re more interested in being social media stars than serving the public good. Clearly, if we lose sight of America the brand and move away from ‘democracy & public good’, it could be to our peril or demise as a nation, and here’s why.
After the events of 9/11/01, a commission laid out recommendations along two tracks:
- Criminal accountability for those responsible.
- A National Response Operation to address air travel safety & security.
Many involved in the World Trade Center (WTC) attack ended up in confinement or incarceration. What we know today as the TSA was a national response. Officials determined that safety and security in air travel was beneficial to all. The TSA now functions as a standard ‘public good’ for airports at home and abroad. Fast forward 20 years to 1/6/21 and we’ve got a similar dilemma. But is there a National Response Operation to support democracy and public good as a standard at home and abroad?
For some perspective, those of us who’re immigrants left our country for opportunity and the American Dream. We didn’t leave to then watch the sinking of democracy, spreading of demagoguery or killing the soul of the nation. If it was important to have a national response around safety & security after 9/11, it’s equally important after 1/6 to have a similar push in Democracy & Public Good. Can’t just leave it to a Presidential speech. It’ll take all of us across government, education and community by how we make a difference as ‘we the people’ towards:
1. Country
Throughout our history, there’ve been moments of challenge due to wars, tragedies, natural disasters and political strife. But we live in a time now where there’s an undercurrent of grievance that, like a software bug, can get in the way of functioning properly as a family, organization, community or country. Are we gonna fix problems or just patch edges? Recently, 13 Presidential Foundations took a stand for country with a heads-up warning. They span decades of political leadership across party affiliations. They’ve called on citizens and elected officials to stand-down on divisiveness and stand-up on democracy.
2. Constitution
The first order of business as a nation was the Constitution. It serves as a linchpin keeping things together as the world turns. It helps us manage the interrelatedness of different parts of government function. This would make sense to Benjamin Banneker, a noted player from black history who published almanacs and was on the survey team that founded Washington DC. According to his family member, he felt “the interrelatedness of things in life is the world’s greatest truth”. In terms of government, that speaks to the Constitution. It’s also why a key to SAIC is connecting the dots across history, civics and culture.
3. Citizenship
There’s an expression which says, “you live life forward and understand it backward.” In a sense, culture helps us live life forward, history helps us live life backward. So how about civics? Well, it helps us raise our game as residents and citizens. In other words, civics is the practice by which we live life forward and understand it backward as a nation. But these days, some just want to have power, not bring solutions. They look past public good and do things that give the illusion of public service or citizenship. It just looks and smells bad which reflects poor ‘social hygiene’. A higher level of citizenship is best for social hygiene.
4. Common Purpose
Die-hard fans know sports bring out the happiness in us. Oprah learned something similar from chats with her Talk Show audience over 25 years. They said that happiness was their #1 pursuit. Maybe the founders were on to something when they coined ‘Life, Liberty & Happiness’ as an important national ideal and pursuit. So, what if we did a reset in how we approached happiness as a common purpose in America? We may gain new appreciation for being “land of the free and home of the brave.” Add-in how SAIC’s work tied to a common purpose also means being ‘voice of the times and model of the dream.”
So, is it settled news that Kelce and Swift are an item? Maybe they wanna keep folks guessing. Similarly, is it settled whether we have democracy on lock? If we’re still guessing, then maybe we gotta deliver more public good and make a difference as ‘we the people’. These days there’re folks in some circles who operate more out of sabotage than collaboration. While politics is sometimes based on how you play the game as a power grab, civics is how you raise your game as a public good. If you’re wondering “What Now America”, let’s have public good on deck, to live-up to our ideals of greatness and American Dream.
“What Now America!” To find out more about ‘Democracy & Public Good’ or the Civics & Community Forum Series or how you can “J.A.M. With Us” (join a movement) in civic engagement, social change and community life, checkout the Signup Center below.
Tracks: Babyface and Trisha Yearwood – Change the World – https://youtu.be/SjUFRhARAHs?si=Eqi8cPkK9B95FWk_
Libianca – People – https://youtu.be/rJWdfDPZ9Ck?si=LTajS0wN_fokg8di
See America In Color 