Civic Engagement

During our discussion on civic engagement I couldn’t help but think about the political undertones that were existent in our conversation. We live in a capitalist country and, in theory, everyone has the ability to succeed through hard work. In a perfect world, everyone would have the same socio-economic status and would have the same success rate. However, that’s called socialism and I truly believe that it can’t work on the large scale. (I worked on a “kibbutz” [small agricultural and very socialist communities throughout Israel] for about 2 weeks one summer). It’s not our government’s responsibility, or at least it hasn’t been in the past, to “spread the wealth around,” and provide equal responsibility to the population. This is the primary reason why I think civic engagement is so important. In a sense, I am doing my part to increase someone’s opportunity to succeed when the government could and should not. This may at first sound very self-righteous, but it’s only so if you don’t realize the true value in civic engagement. The fact of the matter is, it is not a one way street. I realize that the most beneficial civic engagement is that in which I get as much in return as I give. As long as I constantly realize this, I think the “coat-drive syndrome” is easily avoidable.
Now to get down to the specifics: I honestly think that picking a project has to be a long and drawn out process. The first step should be for each of us figures out exactly what we want to do. As individuals, we should measure what we think is worthy of civic engagement, what each of us would benefit from, the logistics behind the project, and of course, how much we could stand doing whatever it is. The obvious restricting variable in our case is resources. So instead, we can give our time and company. The project discussed seems appropriate, particularly when thinking about our theme of “understanding human behavior.” The current project of visiting both the elderly and kids provides an obvious contrast and is ideal for our subject matter. I want to talk more about what we can actually compare and examine to actually understand human behavior. This is obviously where Dr. G’s expertise is helpful. I’m concerned about how often to meet with them and whether or not we should switch. I think it must be more than simply once. I was envisioning a long-term project to be honest. Additionally, while I think it would be worthwhile to switch so all of us could get the experience from both groups, it is also worth it to form bonds with them, particularly the kids. If groups switch it would definitely have to be half way through and not every other week or so. I definitely think that, for the most part, the time should be spent one on one. Exceptions of course can be made, particularly with regard to playing sports with the kids. I think that, while individual interactions with the kids could be rewarding, they could easily get bored too. That's why sports or arts and crafts and music are all great ideas. One next step we could take is to figure out if the organizations that we look into have all of these things, or if we will have to improvise. Also, I work best with elementary school children, but any age up to 14 or so is fine with me. With the elderly, I think just having someone to talk to is really rewarding for them and it provides us with a more thorough understanding one individual. I think it would be easiest from a technical standpoint if Suzy were to at least provide us with a few organizations within the Georgetown area. This is simply because she has experience with the subject and already has many useful resources.