Engagement

The following is a response to "The Open Space of Democracy" by Terry Tempest Williams...

Mardie Murie(considered the grandmother of the conservationist movement) once said..."Give yourself the adventure of doing what you can do, with what you have, even if you have nothing but the adventure of trying.  How much better than standing in a corner with your back to the wall."  Often as conservationists, we find ourselves with our backs to the wall, overwhelmed by the enormity of environmental challenges in a country where the power of politics in Washington seems to trump or intimidate us all enough to be disengaged from our democratic rights. 

Tempest Williams argues that it's easy to be apathetic to engagement.  Believing in the reality and possibility of the democratic process is what takes courage.  Williams claims that "the human heart is the first home of democracy", and "It is through the act of participation that we change."  Engagement then, is only the first half of democracy.  The other half is the expression of our engagement; how we respond to it, share it, and move forward with continued action.  After all, "What is wealth if we cannot share it? What if freedom if we cannot offer it as a vision of compassion and restraint rather than force and aggression?"

In a nation where a history of bravery has witheld the democratic ideals we all cherish, we must step up to reclaim our rights through the exercise of shared knowledge and power.  We cannot look for leadership in anyone but ourselves. 

The time has come to ask  "If I am comitted to seeing the direction of our contry change, how must I change myself?"