Ask not what your country can do for you, because it’s already done too much.
It has delayed your chances of getting a great job after graduation to instead build democracy in Iraq; it has told you to keep spending in a market that can’t give you a job so you can afford its goods.
Let’s face it, “what you can do for your country” doesn’t seem as noble as when President Kennedy first implored Americans to build this country’s values from the ground up — starting with its treatment of its people.
Most of us already have sent in our absentee ballots. You don’t want to read — and I don’t want to write — a column telling you why you should vote. In the final analysis, half of us are going to get what we want and the other half won’t. And ultimately, being an American is not something you only do once every four years.
Rather our deeds and values in action will sustain our democracy in the interim.
I can tell you now, putting all of our marbles into one basket, hoping that a new (or the same) president will change the world isn’t enough. By all means vote, and then the next day, do all you can to better yourself and your community.
The presidential election, regardless of its winner, will mark a change in how we view this country and our role in reclaiming it.
American prosperity will depend on “what you can do for your country.” While Bush and Kerry can change the tax code and build up the military, they cannot make us better people.
After the election we should stop looking to the president to improve the quality of our lives. Instead, we can make great changes by doing little things — things that require more personal power than political.
We can start first by learning how to love. This may sound silly but that’s why it’s called a start. You see, loving societies don’t use war to promote peace. Loving societies can see the humanity in others, and not use military violence as the only solution to human rights violations.
Dr. King would argue that learning to love others alone is an act of political resistance and empowerment.
Secondly, we should read until our brains hurt. The only way Americans can keep from being led into a war based on a misconception is if we perpetually read. Ill-informed discussion and moral mud-slinging won’t bring us closer to solutions — but reading and discussing make it easier to call politicians out when they aren’t telling the truth.
Thirdly, if you haven’t done so yet, please get off of Instant Messenger (or significantly decrease its usage). Instead, visit a campus forum, or maybe a Chicago cultural event — even if you must to go alone. The merits of such excursions will be self-evident.
And finally, know your purpose in life and in this world community. As students, it’s easy to become lost in the banality of life and forget the motivating reasons behind our existence. But when we know why we’re doing what we’re doing, we can be proactive and inspire others. And when our purposes in life are based in love, and not our hate of something, life is good.
I do understand, though, that going from galvanized victims of terror to normal, loving people is going to take time. And after Sept. 11, 2001, looking into our mortal selves has been more painstaking and depressing.
But once we look inward and find room to grow, our quality of life will surpass our dreams, even if our president can’t do it for us.
Malena Amusa is a Medill junior. She can be reached at [email protected].
