A ‘Stroke of Genius’ in Civic Life: What America’s Story says About the ‘Movement of a People’ in Advancing our Nation’s Standing

If you’ve been watching the March Madness championships, there’ve been a bunch of exciting games. The finals results are in, not just in overall winners, but also in TV viewership. Outside of politics, it’s clear that sports events get lots of attention in the grand scheme of things as a nation. We all like to feel like winners in some aspect of daily life.

While that’s been a Spring Break activity feeding our fun, we reached the six-month mark since the start of the Israeli-Hamas conflict. Efforts at tamping down violence and freeing hostages have been ongoing. Folks are frustrated about the recent loss of life with food workers, and how things are playing out. On the homeland, it’s been just about two months since the tragedy at the Chiefs’ Superbowl Parade. Equally so are those who’re saddened by how a fun post-Superbowl event ended with loss of life too.

In an interview with USA Today, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid says the organization and the nation gotta do better, “Which has nothing to do with chasing a threepeat, but so much to do with a deeper purpose: the children”. In a sense, it’s as if our nation needs to experience a ‘Stroke of Genius in Civic Life’. We might start with a lookback in history for some clues on what America’s story says about the ‘movement of a people’ in advancing our nation’s standing. Think on how America’s founding got its footing and later free enterprise goodness. The nation came to be through movements of:

• Merchants seeking expanded profit in commerce (quantity of life).
• Pilgrims seeking greater purpose in community (quality of life).
• Citizens seeking deeper patriotism in country (solidarity of life).

These aspects continue to influence, inspire and sometimes inflame the issues of our time. What we see from March Madness is there’re more folks riding on the fun of sports. But it seems the recent World Happiness Report suggests that even with high numbers in sports viewership, more younger generation folks aren’t quite feeling America’s life situations. Clearly, there’s a difference between fun and happiness.

Closer to home, many residents made plans to view the solar eclipse. Some folks travelled long distances by air and highway to get the best view. Retail and restaurant venues offered ‘Eclipse Day’ specials to attract customers who’d be looking to the sky. Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but what if we could put a similar level of energy and dollars into civic life as we did with the eclipse? If we consider that America’s story is the combination of quantity of life, quality of life as well as solidarity of life, the common thread across all three is getting to the point of taking a stand for:

1. Self

An age-old question in human interest terms is ‘WIIFM – what’s in it for me’. With any effort for profit, purpose or patriotism, it’s an underlying question, oftentimes silently kept. There’s usually a ‘self’ aspect that gets our attention and motivates participation. In the case of the Chiefs, their ‘WIIFM’ focus is gonna be on a possible threepeat. But what coach Reid was also saying is the importance of a higher purpose as an organization. In other words, not only to ‘party with a purpose’ with a parade in the community, but also ‘live with higher purpose’ as a collective. That’s when self gets to tag-team with solidarity.

2. Education

Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement tapped into something that folks hung-up on grievances seem to miss. The movement was focused on opening the doors of commerce, strengthening community and advancing country through policies that respect the value of all people. What we have nowadays are some who’re focused on devaluing people. Moreover, one way the movement got its boost was built around education. The Brown vs Board of Education ruling was a landmark decision and bookmark to the movement. Civics education can play a similar role today for taking a stand.     

3. American Dream

The American Dream is sometimes seen as turning opportunity into capability, a good job into a good life. There’s also the part of invention through innovation. Either way, things might lead to greater market value and social capital. One way we see this play-out in sports is where players/teams turn energy into chemistry and build marketability through synergy. Similarly, America is at its best when it builds its standing around creating synergy across quantity of life, quality of life and solidarity of life. Maybe that’s what the effort in E Pluribus Unum was about during the early days, as well as civil rights in later years.       

4. Country/Family 

The challenge these days is of double-speak from those who push policies in division but offer rhetoric in patriotism. This feeds the culture wars and a toxic kind of synergy. SAIC brings a different approach, like back in the day when music was released as a ’45’ vinyl record. There was the main track as well as what was known as the B-side. One side was the lead single, the other was an instrumental or different song. A good ‘45’ was one where it was a ‘double hit’, lead single and B-side. Well, we can do the same by bringing new energy to our civic life and human spirit. It’ll make for a double hit in country and family.

America looked to the sky in unity for one reason, the eclipse. So to coach Reid and those who wanna forge a ‘Stroke of Genius’ in civic life, let’s take a stand in unity for the culture. This will help impact self, education, American Dream and country/family. Our ‘Civic Mondays’ program to triumph in social spirit is like planting a seed and watching it sprout roots, then branches and leaves in civic engagement. The program and SAIC are for all ages, like water for a potted plant. As civics gets poured in, April showers bring May flowers. So ‘JAM With Us’ on the method to our madness, turn up big for fun and happiness.

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Tracks: Chris Brown – Turn Up the Music – https://youtu.be/eQWG8BVeryU?si=JKn9fNnIoKlqPoIK

Nupah – Self Love – https://youtu.be/uveBMpCfgAU?si=2S2GqCNk8EXKGIkL