Cynicism is for cowards.
Someone I don’t even know very well recently challenged me to name three leaders who were true to “public service”, suggesting there weren’t any and that “those who might have the ability and resources to "change our world" put their professional and personal agendas before the need of those they might help, and therefore the world is screwed and there is no reason for anyone to think they can make a difference.”
Cynicism is a form of fear. You've got to have personal courage – among other things, the courage to believe that your actions will make a difference, even if you cannot see or measure that difference, even if that difference does not come to fruition in your own lifetime.
But in trying to name some “heroes” of public service, I balked. I don't like the idea of heroes. None of us are heroes. A couple weeks ago I watched on Netflix Streaming a documentary about Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi-hunter, called "I Have Never Forgotten You". To me, the most intense part was in the last two minutes, when he is very old, in his 90s, and receiving another award, and he starts to cry and he tells the crowd -- don't give me this award. Don't make me special. I am not hero. We all carry this responsibility. And if you make me a hero, and you don't carry this responsibility as yours but make it a hero's responsibility -- then this will happen again.
We are each called to our own kind of service. I believe this. We may ignore service to our neighbor, to our fellow men and women, but we are each called to it -- it's part of the human experience, to help each other. Every society, every culture, every tradition, every history on earth has it. So if we each carry some responsibility -- well, then it's up to us.
Our culture is obsessed with heroes -- not only with heroes, but with celebrity, and the lines are getting very blurry, and that's bad for everybody. I really believe that service, public service, needs to be a deep part of our lives -- and the only way to get there is to live it, to look for your own public service, your own generosity and your own responsibility. And for me, public service is tied intimately to the idea of change: we need to change this world we live in, to make it a better place.
Change requires struggle. We forget this. Change in this day and age is accomplished primarily by money changing hands; you go from walkman to CDs to iPods to iPhones in just a few short years and all it costs is money. We elected a president who urged change by entering our credit card number and clicking. At this time last year, we could not help but feel giddy with the change that was upon us – Barack Obama as the President of the United States! Consequently, when epochal change on an issue as fundamental to our very breathing as climate change fails to materialize in the face of what feels like broad global public consensus, it feels like defeat.
I’m amazed to read about artists like Picasso or Thelonious Monk, who managed to imagine an art beyond the present, seeing beyond their contemporaries and the traditions of the past, striving for something new. Activists for social change do something similar: through an act of imagination, they see a new world, a brighter future, and then struggle to take us there. But in this day and age it’s easy to leave imagination behind, indulging in the insanity of our media-saturated world obsessed with every incremental step forward, each new version release.
The start of a new year is a good time to amp up the imagination and decide what kind of world we really want to live in. I am reminded of the tenacity of activists of earlier eras, who imagined a world and then struggled to bring it into being – even when the struggle was apparently fruitless for lifetimes. We all have our heroes, people we look to for inspiration in our movement-building; one of mine is Ammon Hennacy, a self-described Catholic Anarchist. If that description doesn’t pique your curiosity, I don’t know what will.
The networked nature of the modern world offers new opportunities for movement-building – for bringing the imagined brighter future into reality – but at the same time it seems to threaten the act of imagination with the amount of noise it introduces into our lives. The struggle is to find ourselves, to take personal courage to heart, to seek out stark beauty. That’s what work is.
My favorite quote for almost twenty years is from an HG Wells novel (from a book, incidentally, that was given to me by 10th grade Geometry teacher -- now that's Public Service!):
But in these plethoric times when there is too much coarse stuff for everybody and the struggle for life takes the form of competitive advertisement and the effort to fill your neighbor's eye, there is no urgent demand either for personal courage, sound nerves or stark beauty, and we find ourselves by accident.
HG Wells wrote that in 1909 in the novel Tono-Bungay, 100 years ago. Today I saw a Teddy Roosevelt quote from the same era that could have been written this morning, it so perfectly described our current political dynamic. My point is that this is our world and it is what we make of it -- and people haven't changed that much. It's up to each of us. What kind of world do you want to live in? Go make that world.
Go ahead, be cynical and let fear rule your life. I've got (stuff) to do, worlds to change, and it's fun, so I’ll see you later.
Born in West Africa to foreign service parents, Nicco Mele, Partner, was Governor Howard Dean's presidential campaign webmaster and is a leading internet strategist
Legacy Comments
Well said and much needed. I enjoyed the whole post, but the warning about hero worship struck an especially strong chord. I'm going to share something I wrote about the topic that I've never shared:
At their best, heroes can inspire. But sometimes hero worship can paralyze and make us doubt our own abilities and our own progress.
Take history. Our usual way of learning and teaching the great events of the past can have the unintended effect of deifying important figures and elevating them to hero status, removing them from the human plane, and by doing so, erasing their path and making it more difficult for others to follow. it's important to remember that all of the great historical figures we admire were very real, very mortal human beings who summoned the courage long before success or recognition, and that we can, too.
In the religious realm, the concept of sainthood literally robs humanity of its brightest stars, and I'd argue, future possibility, by posthumously declaring that they were imbued with supernatural powers. In science, Albert Einstein is a sad example: he adamantly insisted that we, too, could make great discoveries if we worked hard. Sadly, his popular image today is just the opposite: an unattainable icon whose footsteps you'd have to be pretty cocky to attempt to follow in.
I once avoided biographies, thinking it an overpopulated and self-indulgent genre. Then I read Marisha Pessl's novel Special Topics in Calamity Physics, where the protagonist makes frequent references to all of the media she's ever consumed, especially biographies. This minor element of a 514 page book made me recognize the power of biographies to chart the life, times, and path of great figures before they were great, and help remind us that we're all somewhere on that path.
Give yourself credit and let the many amazing heroes out there play an inspiring role in your journey. Try calling them role models.
Hi Nicco,
James turned me on to this article, which I really enjoyed and am passing on. It's a timely piece and stares me straight in the face as I struggle to figure out how I can make a difference. You've given me food for thought and inspiration--the more elusive gift--and I thank you. I hope you, Asa, and Morra are well. Please say hello for me.
Onward ho!
Martina
This inspires me to not only agree with Nicco and Matt, but also to share something I've never written (but long thought) about religion. It is paradoxical. I am an atheist so I think god-worship is an illusion. HOWEVER, I think religion -- belief in a god or higher power -- can bring about the best in us, when we use the moral support of that belief to attempt (and sometimes succeed in) things we would never think our mere mortal selves capable of, because we pray to "god" to "give us the strength," go do what we need to do, and then attribute success to (usually) "him."
Whether it's a "heroic" act," rescuing another human, starting a movement by risking something (from embarrassment or failure, to our bodies or our lives), or even surviving the rubble of a collapsed building in Haiti for 15 days, people who call on "god" for strength often do *find* strength, and succeed. They do what they need to do. But I believe this strength -- to do what we need to do, and to succeed -- actually exists in all of us, whatever our beliefs or station in life (i.e., I don't believe it comes from god, but from believing -- believing gives us courage and strength!).
I think Alcoholics Anonymous is a perfect example of this: mere mortal humans stop drinking, while attributing their success to a Higher Power. It's truly humble not to take credit. I wish, however, that we could recognize, without the need for "god," how much power and ability each of us actually has (and don'tcha think that a good god would want you to find your power anyway?). I wish we could believe in ourselves. Notice: powerful people sure do. If you don't believe you have the power Nicco is talking about, go see the new movie on the Freedom Riders, or at least watch a little online: these were teenage college students from non-elite colleges who changed American history: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/2/1/the_freedom_riders.
As a new (female) friend of mine who just tried an exercise boot camp reminded me, "I never knew I could do so many push-ups -- maybe because I never tried before!"
If you have religion, good for you; may you use it for good. If you don't, take heart: you may have more strength and ability to effect change than you ever imagined. But you have to try. That means you have to start -- somewhere.
You know where I think our real strength comes from? (1) deciding that *we ourselves* will do something, however meek or weak it may seem at first. *You* can be a leader. If you don't want to be a leader, you can be the spark. *Your* ideas matter. Do you think that the "powers that be" are going to congratulate you when you hit on a good strategy to take back power for the people? NO! You have to know when they're silent (or when they're bashing heads and arresting people) you've hit on something powerful they wish you hadn't figured out. So you have to believe in yourself. But we are a nation so dedicated to the individual, many of us feel too isolated and insecure to act alone. We need support in believing in ourselves (and so do others). This brings me to point #2.
(2) Find others and band together. We grow, strengthen, learn, progress and **succeed* -- together. We can give each other courage and support. Make a conscious effort to support other people so they will believe in themselves, too. Say 'Yes!' Give thanks and praises (and tithe) -- to god, OK, if you want, but how about also to your neighborhood activist or peace group?! How about your local union picket line? Join them! Do something you love with them (sing, make a poster, walk, cook, write, build, dance, hold a potluck discussion, whatever). Then *we* become a movement. We make history. We become, and bring into being, the future.
"They" do NOT have all the power. Not now, and certainly, not forever!!
Keep on movin', y'all. Peace out.
"Change requires struggle" I totally agree with this statement. One cannot stay the same and change at the same time, obviously. But I think its a struggle to do the right thing; To pick one's head up and look outside one's self. It can be as simple as holding a door open. I believe if we all we just a bit more empathetic and conscientious to the world around us, it wouldn't take a great leap to be better. Unfortunatly habits are hard to break and its easy to be self absorbed and lazy. but one can hold out hope.