Introduction
Let's see how I changed as a seeeetizen this semester (get it? pun see citizen!) “Every person is born into life as a blank page- and every person leaves liife as a full book” (pg xi). This has been in my mind all semester in a smaller scale. I came into Virginia Tech as a blank page, what impact do I want to make on the school? There are so many different directions especially at such a big school. I have developed as an active citizen continuum because I started off as a volunteer. When I entered Virginia Tech, I never asked myself those "big questions" that help fill the gap between conscientious citizen and volunteer. Through SERVE class and reflection after service trips, I am able to see the world in a different light. The world is a lot bigger than I have ever believed. There are issues around the world but they are also at home. It's hard to conquer the world in one day which why it is vital to start small. Starting in the community that you live in is a great idea because a community can only be as strong as the people who live there. I have also learned the importance of passion. John, from Plenty Farms, was dedicated towards his job. Teaching was just as important to him as getting the job done. James from Feeding America was passionate about his job and inspiring people was just as important to him as packing food. So next semester, I am going to be a conscientious citizen with the skills and tools to become an active citizen. The only thing I have left to do is pick on what issue I want to become an active citizen for. |
L'essay
Active Citizen at Heart
My grandmother came into this country not knowing a word of English. She noticed there was a problem, and decided to fix it- there was no option for Polish speaking kids to go to school despite the large Polish population in the city. She started a school in Perth Amboy called the United Poles of America (ZPA Zjednoczenia Polakow w Ameryce), today known as ZPA Polish Saturday School. My Bapchi was a person who made a social change because she was an effective active citizen. In order to understand how she was able to make this change and how every effective active citizen is able to make a change, it is important to understand what an active citizen is and how to be an effective one. An active citizen is someone who goes above and beyond the expectations of a citizen in order to help others by trying to make a social change and are only effective when they feel it through their heart.
In order to understand it means to be an active citizen, it is vital to have a keen understanding of what it means to be a citizen. Block phrased citizenship as “our capacity to create for ourselves what we sought from our leaders” (Block 2). He is describing citizenship as taking matter into our own hands. Citizens are meant to respects the rights, beliefs, and opinions of others as well as participate in the democratic process whether that be to vote or serve in a jury when called upon. In addition to these duties, Scheerens stated it was important for citizens to participate in both “formal and informal learning about the world around” them. Staying educated about the community is a key aspect of citizenship because when we understand what is going on around us, we can begin to question it. Once we begin to question, we can see where there needs to be a change. Those people who want to try and implement a social change are known as active citizens.
According to the active citizen continuum, a person goes from being a “conscious citizen to an active citizen”- but what separates these types of citizens? The answer is leadership. Kouzes stated, “it’s just pure myth that only a lucky few can ever understand the intricacies of leadership” (Kousez 2). Generally, people try to fit leaders into the same mold. Common leadership qualities include someone who is strong, powerful, and extraverted; however, this is not necessarily true. Perhaps the greatest skill a leader can have is adaptability. Depending on the situation, a different kind of leader is required. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. was bold and persistent. He relayed his messaged through speaking and preaching his belief. On the other hand, Gandhi lead by example and empowered his followers to feel confident and courageous. Both men were effective active citizens, as evidence from our praise and studies in school to this day, but they were both different kinds of leader. As Kousez phrases it, “leadership development is self development” (Kousez 5). Once a person figures out what their passionate about or what they love the most, then they can be a leader.
Sometimes a person can be an active citizen by becoming a leader, but that does not always mean they are going to see the social change they are fighting to happen. Ryan defines active citizenship as “participation in civil society, community and/or political life, characterized by mutual respect and non-violence and in accordance with human right and democracy”. If a person follows these guidelines, they will not achieve their goal because there is a difference between an active citizen and an effective active citizen. The line between the two is love.
Kousez coined leadership as “an affair of the heart” because there is a noticeable difference between a person who is speaking from the heart rather than the head. People can throw facts and figures at you all day, but until a person is speaking with sweat running down their face, tears rolling down their eyes, or fire burning their words- they will not see a change. The heart is so powerful as evidence from James Anthony from Feeding America. His words were able to inspire our group to unbox, clean, rebox, unbox, check, and rebox 10,000 pounds of food in four hours. If someone told me this was possible last week, I would have laughed in their face. But after this weekend, I was able to see that the power of love is able to break the boundary of what we believe to be impossible. If James heard the Pipher quote, “The process of trying to make things better is the healthiest way I have of responding to the world around me” (Pipher 121) I believe he would whole heartedly agree because he emphasized how lucky each one of us are. I woke up today with all working limbs, a functioning brain, and great health. I am so blessed for everything that I have, and I realize all my problems are so small in the grand scheme of things. There are people who are wondering when their next meal will be, mothers deciding whether to turn off the water supply or heat because they cannot afford both, children who are sitting at home because it is not safe to attend school- and here I am. An eighteen-year-old healthy girl saying my “life is over” because I am going to get a B in math. Active citizens are the ones who can look past their own problems to try and help the people around them who have bigger more serious problems.
Once it is realized that people have bigger more serious problems, a social change can be made. According to the Social Change Model, “controversy with civility” are conflicts that need to be resolved as well as incorporated into the common purpose. Informed citizens are the ones who begin to question the world around them and once the world is questioned a change can begin to occur. People try to avoid “big questions” and steer farther away from the “hard questions”- but this cannot be done forever. Society was meant to be changed- it isn’t perfect and honestly never will be. That’s why we need active citizens. We need them to follower their hearts. D’Ambrosi stated there were “three main features that active citizens have in common: safeguard of the rights to satisfy individual and community’s needs for the general interest; empowerment meant as acquisition of competences through which people, organizations and communities can change their social and political environment; care of the common goods according to a shared management so that everybody can participate to decisions related to the use and fruition of such goods”. These features are true, but they are not the most important. Kousez stated, “I don’t know any other fire, any other thing in life that is more exhilarating and is more positive a feeling than love is” (Kousez 8). With love, an active citizen is unstoppable. There is not a perfect mold for an active citizen, no exact definition, no distinct formula to becoming an effective one- the only guidelines are to find what your passionate about, feel it with every inch of your soul, and let it burn the inside of you until there is nothing but fire that spews from your mouth when you speak of the topic. Never let fear of what might happen if you stand up for what you believe make you turn against your passionate heart. As Charles Bukowski once said, “find what you love and let it kill you”.
Anais Nin stated, “we don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are”. Personally, I feel this is the best way to describe people in general. Active citizens are people who want to make a social change in society because they feel it in their heart. Virginia Tech encourages students to become active citizens through our classes, clubs, and service opportunities. We have classes with service requirements, clubs that hold donations, and VT engage that hosts service trips. It is easy to find a way to give back at Virginia Tech which is why it is safe to say the university lives out their motto, Ut Prosim. It is a lifestyle because it can be seen in many ways on campus. One of the things Virginia Tech is most dually noted for is our student satisfaction. The Hokies are the second happiest college campus. This shows us living Ut Prosim because we are living the lives we are blessed to have. As James stated, each day is a blessing. Our students are less focused on their selves and things that can make them sad such as insecurities, grades, and personal problems, and more focused on the world around them. Instead of wallowing in self pity, we see a greater world. For example, World Regions is the most popular class taken at Virginia Tech. It shows that Hokies are interested in learning about the world outside of their own. We live as good citizens by appreciating what we have and simply being happy.
Another way Ut Prosim is seen is through the holding open of doors. It is a small gesture, but it proves that we respect our fellow Hokies. It can also be seen through the STEP UP program where students can lead service trips. There is a wide range of citizens at Virginia Tech, and truth be told, it’s better that way. Not everyone can be the same type of active citizen. It is important for Virginia Tech not to enforce active citizenship, but to simply give the opportunities to become one. There needs to be so many opportunities to become one that it is just as easy not to be one. Really all the school can do is give the chances so students can make their own decisions. Not everyone has the same beliefs, not everyone thinks the same way- and that’s okay. As crazy as it seems, everyone somehow fits into the world.
I can try to inspire people to become an active citizen by telling them my story. I can tell them my expierence and maybe that will inspire them to want to feel the same way. Becoming an active citizen is a decision one has to make on their own because feeling it with your heart is one of the most important aspects. Becoming an active citizen may take time. Not everyone will be one in college, maybe they won’t be one until ten years after graduation. People blossom at different times and it is important not to speed up the process.
This semester, I have been a volunteer for Plenty Farms and Feeding America. My view has changed because I am a conscious citizen. I see the issues in a different perspective, from a world outside my own. Mostly, this is because of James. The speech he gave us was so powerful because it made me realize why I was there. I was there because I am an able body who has the world in my hands and the question is- what do I want to do with it? Do I keep for myself, focus on myself, and ignore the problems around me? Or do I share my abilities, do I share the world I have been given with those around me? It doesn’t make you a bad person for taking advantage of the world you have been given, but I realized it does not feel right. Grades and jobs are important, but they aren’t everything. There is a bigger world that sometimes we forget because we tend to only view the world from our own eyes.
I am a conscious citizen because I am questioning the world around me. I constantly ask myself “big questions” now. I want to figure out what single problem in the world I want to focus on. It’s difficult to remain a positive person when there is so much negative around me. It’s always said the world is the way we perceive it, but I do not want to live in a lie. I feel like the movie the Truman Show when Jim Carrey learns his whole life is a lie. Just because my world is okay doesn’t mean the world is okay. I don’t have to make the world’s issues my issues but I want to. I want to help people. I want to make a difference in their lives even if I cannot personally connect. In a way, it’s better that I cannot personally connect because that means I can listen. Listen to their stories and lives, and I can learn something new which will help me gain a new perspective.
Actions speak louder than words. This is a hard belief of mine so it is important that I live my own morals. I plan on becoming an active citizen by focusing on one issue. James made me feel very passionate about hunger, and that’s something I believe I can focus on; however, there are other topics that make me feel passion on my own. When I think of kids in the hospital, my heart melts. I want to do everything in my capacity to make them feel better. In high school, my guidance counselor gave me three hundred paper bags and I decorated them all in one night and helped her fill them with candy to send to a hospital for children. Children are innocent and young so they deserve the chance to have a childhood. Some of our favorite stories are running away from dragons outside, digging to China, or messing around on the playground. It is hard for adults to sit in bed at a hospital- imagine a child? I want to figure out a service project I can do to help kids. Maybe that’s just simply making cards, but I want to do something more special. Especially for kids in the Mayo Clinic. I need more time to think of an effective project, but I will focus on how to raise awareness of the issue since it is not one that is thought about a lot. The best service project for children in the hospital was Larry B. Robinson, a Maryland man who used to dress up as batman and visit sick kids in the hospital. His famous quote was, “I’m just doing it for the kids”. Sadly, he passed away in a car accident. I wish there were more people like him in the world or I could think of something as clever.
In conclusion, active citizenship is focused on leadership and the heart. All the great active citizens in history had two things in common; they were leaders and spoke from the heart. We can only become active citizens on our own time. My Bapchi found her niche in due time. She wasn’t an active citizen until her thirties. Not everyone has to be active citizen in college. It is just important to search for what we love and follow our hearts wherever we go.
Works Cited
Block, P., FROM LEADERSHIP TO CITIZENSHIP. John Wiley and Sons, Inc: 1998.
Break Away: The Alternative Break Connection, Inc., The Active Citizen Continuum. www.alternativebreaks.org.
D'Ambrosi, Lucia. "relations and Organizational Forms of Active Citizenship." European Scientific Journal 10.32 (2014)Web.
Kouzes, Leadership is Everyone's Business. (13).
Mode, About The. The Social Change Model of Leadership Development (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
Pipher, M., Reluctant Activists. In The Green Boat; Reving Oursleves in a Capsized Culture, Riverhead Books: 2013.
Ryan, Maria, Margaret Piasecka, and Simone Pettigrew. "Recruiting Active Citizens." Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing 22.3 (2010): 180-97. Web.
Scheerens, J. Informal Learning of Active Citizenship at School: An International Comparative Study in Seven European Countries. 14 Vol. Dordrecht: Springer, 2009. Web.
My grandmother came into this country not knowing a word of English. She noticed there was a problem, and decided to fix it- there was no option for Polish speaking kids to go to school despite the large Polish population in the city. She started a school in Perth Amboy called the United Poles of America (ZPA Zjednoczenia Polakow w Ameryce), today known as ZPA Polish Saturday School. My Bapchi was a person who made a social change because she was an effective active citizen. In order to understand how she was able to make this change and how every effective active citizen is able to make a change, it is important to understand what an active citizen is and how to be an effective one. An active citizen is someone who goes above and beyond the expectations of a citizen in order to help others by trying to make a social change and are only effective when they feel it through their heart.
In order to understand it means to be an active citizen, it is vital to have a keen understanding of what it means to be a citizen. Block phrased citizenship as “our capacity to create for ourselves what we sought from our leaders” (Block 2). He is describing citizenship as taking matter into our own hands. Citizens are meant to respects the rights, beliefs, and opinions of others as well as participate in the democratic process whether that be to vote or serve in a jury when called upon. In addition to these duties, Scheerens stated it was important for citizens to participate in both “formal and informal learning about the world around” them. Staying educated about the community is a key aspect of citizenship because when we understand what is going on around us, we can begin to question it. Once we begin to question, we can see where there needs to be a change. Those people who want to try and implement a social change are known as active citizens.
According to the active citizen continuum, a person goes from being a “conscious citizen to an active citizen”- but what separates these types of citizens? The answer is leadership. Kouzes stated, “it’s just pure myth that only a lucky few can ever understand the intricacies of leadership” (Kousez 2). Generally, people try to fit leaders into the same mold. Common leadership qualities include someone who is strong, powerful, and extraverted; however, this is not necessarily true. Perhaps the greatest skill a leader can have is adaptability. Depending on the situation, a different kind of leader is required. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. was bold and persistent. He relayed his messaged through speaking and preaching his belief. On the other hand, Gandhi lead by example and empowered his followers to feel confident and courageous. Both men were effective active citizens, as evidence from our praise and studies in school to this day, but they were both different kinds of leader. As Kousez phrases it, “leadership development is self development” (Kousez 5). Once a person figures out what their passionate about or what they love the most, then they can be a leader.
Sometimes a person can be an active citizen by becoming a leader, but that does not always mean they are going to see the social change they are fighting to happen. Ryan defines active citizenship as “participation in civil society, community and/or political life, characterized by mutual respect and non-violence and in accordance with human right and democracy”. If a person follows these guidelines, they will not achieve their goal because there is a difference between an active citizen and an effective active citizen. The line between the two is love.
Kousez coined leadership as “an affair of the heart” because there is a noticeable difference between a person who is speaking from the heart rather than the head. People can throw facts and figures at you all day, but until a person is speaking with sweat running down their face, tears rolling down their eyes, or fire burning their words- they will not see a change. The heart is so powerful as evidence from James Anthony from Feeding America. His words were able to inspire our group to unbox, clean, rebox, unbox, check, and rebox 10,000 pounds of food in four hours. If someone told me this was possible last week, I would have laughed in their face. But after this weekend, I was able to see that the power of love is able to break the boundary of what we believe to be impossible. If James heard the Pipher quote, “The process of trying to make things better is the healthiest way I have of responding to the world around me” (Pipher 121) I believe he would whole heartedly agree because he emphasized how lucky each one of us are. I woke up today with all working limbs, a functioning brain, and great health. I am so blessed for everything that I have, and I realize all my problems are so small in the grand scheme of things. There are people who are wondering when their next meal will be, mothers deciding whether to turn off the water supply or heat because they cannot afford both, children who are sitting at home because it is not safe to attend school- and here I am. An eighteen-year-old healthy girl saying my “life is over” because I am going to get a B in math. Active citizens are the ones who can look past their own problems to try and help the people around them who have bigger more serious problems.
Once it is realized that people have bigger more serious problems, a social change can be made. According to the Social Change Model, “controversy with civility” are conflicts that need to be resolved as well as incorporated into the common purpose. Informed citizens are the ones who begin to question the world around them and once the world is questioned a change can begin to occur. People try to avoid “big questions” and steer farther away from the “hard questions”- but this cannot be done forever. Society was meant to be changed- it isn’t perfect and honestly never will be. That’s why we need active citizens. We need them to follower their hearts. D’Ambrosi stated there were “three main features that active citizens have in common: safeguard of the rights to satisfy individual and community’s needs for the general interest; empowerment meant as acquisition of competences through which people, organizations and communities can change their social and political environment; care of the common goods according to a shared management so that everybody can participate to decisions related to the use and fruition of such goods”. These features are true, but they are not the most important. Kousez stated, “I don’t know any other fire, any other thing in life that is more exhilarating and is more positive a feeling than love is” (Kousez 8). With love, an active citizen is unstoppable. There is not a perfect mold for an active citizen, no exact definition, no distinct formula to becoming an effective one- the only guidelines are to find what your passionate about, feel it with every inch of your soul, and let it burn the inside of you until there is nothing but fire that spews from your mouth when you speak of the topic. Never let fear of what might happen if you stand up for what you believe make you turn against your passionate heart. As Charles Bukowski once said, “find what you love and let it kill you”.
Anais Nin stated, “we don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are”. Personally, I feel this is the best way to describe people in general. Active citizens are people who want to make a social change in society because they feel it in their heart. Virginia Tech encourages students to become active citizens through our classes, clubs, and service opportunities. We have classes with service requirements, clubs that hold donations, and VT engage that hosts service trips. It is easy to find a way to give back at Virginia Tech which is why it is safe to say the university lives out their motto, Ut Prosim. It is a lifestyle because it can be seen in many ways on campus. One of the things Virginia Tech is most dually noted for is our student satisfaction. The Hokies are the second happiest college campus. This shows us living Ut Prosim because we are living the lives we are blessed to have. As James stated, each day is a blessing. Our students are less focused on their selves and things that can make them sad such as insecurities, grades, and personal problems, and more focused on the world around them. Instead of wallowing in self pity, we see a greater world. For example, World Regions is the most popular class taken at Virginia Tech. It shows that Hokies are interested in learning about the world outside of their own. We live as good citizens by appreciating what we have and simply being happy.
Another way Ut Prosim is seen is through the holding open of doors. It is a small gesture, but it proves that we respect our fellow Hokies. It can also be seen through the STEP UP program where students can lead service trips. There is a wide range of citizens at Virginia Tech, and truth be told, it’s better that way. Not everyone can be the same type of active citizen. It is important for Virginia Tech not to enforce active citizenship, but to simply give the opportunities to become one. There needs to be so many opportunities to become one that it is just as easy not to be one. Really all the school can do is give the chances so students can make their own decisions. Not everyone has the same beliefs, not everyone thinks the same way- and that’s okay. As crazy as it seems, everyone somehow fits into the world.
I can try to inspire people to become an active citizen by telling them my story. I can tell them my expierence and maybe that will inspire them to want to feel the same way. Becoming an active citizen is a decision one has to make on their own because feeling it with your heart is one of the most important aspects. Becoming an active citizen may take time. Not everyone will be one in college, maybe they won’t be one until ten years after graduation. People blossom at different times and it is important not to speed up the process.
This semester, I have been a volunteer for Plenty Farms and Feeding America. My view has changed because I am a conscious citizen. I see the issues in a different perspective, from a world outside my own. Mostly, this is because of James. The speech he gave us was so powerful because it made me realize why I was there. I was there because I am an able body who has the world in my hands and the question is- what do I want to do with it? Do I keep for myself, focus on myself, and ignore the problems around me? Or do I share my abilities, do I share the world I have been given with those around me? It doesn’t make you a bad person for taking advantage of the world you have been given, but I realized it does not feel right. Grades and jobs are important, but they aren’t everything. There is a bigger world that sometimes we forget because we tend to only view the world from our own eyes.
I am a conscious citizen because I am questioning the world around me. I constantly ask myself “big questions” now. I want to figure out what single problem in the world I want to focus on. It’s difficult to remain a positive person when there is so much negative around me. It’s always said the world is the way we perceive it, but I do not want to live in a lie. I feel like the movie the Truman Show when Jim Carrey learns his whole life is a lie. Just because my world is okay doesn’t mean the world is okay. I don’t have to make the world’s issues my issues but I want to. I want to help people. I want to make a difference in their lives even if I cannot personally connect. In a way, it’s better that I cannot personally connect because that means I can listen. Listen to their stories and lives, and I can learn something new which will help me gain a new perspective.
Actions speak louder than words. This is a hard belief of mine so it is important that I live my own morals. I plan on becoming an active citizen by focusing on one issue. James made me feel very passionate about hunger, and that’s something I believe I can focus on; however, there are other topics that make me feel passion on my own. When I think of kids in the hospital, my heart melts. I want to do everything in my capacity to make them feel better. In high school, my guidance counselor gave me three hundred paper bags and I decorated them all in one night and helped her fill them with candy to send to a hospital for children. Children are innocent and young so they deserve the chance to have a childhood. Some of our favorite stories are running away from dragons outside, digging to China, or messing around on the playground. It is hard for adults to sit in bed at a hospital- imagine a child? I want to figure out a service project I can do to help kids. Maybe that’s just simply making cards, but I want to do something more special. Especially for kids in the Mayo Clinic. I need more time to think of an effective project, but I will focus on how to raise awareness of the issue since it is not one that is thought about a lot. The best service project for children in the hospital was Larry B. Robinson, a Maryland man who used to dress up as batman and visit sick kids in the hospital. His famous quote was, “I’m just doing it for the kids”. Sadly, he passed away in a car accident. I wish there were more people like him in the world or I could think of something as clever.
In conclusion, active citizenship is focused on leadership and the heart. All the great active citizens in history had two things in common; they were leaders and spoke from the heart. We can only become active citizens on our own time. My Bapchi found her niche in due time. She wasn’t an active citizen until her thirties. Not everyone has to be active citizen in college. It is just important to search for what we love and follow our hearts wherever we go.
Works Cited
Block, P., FROM LEADERSHIP TO CITIZENSHIP. John Wiley and Sons, Inc: 1998.
Break Away: The Alternative Break Connection, Inc., The Active Citizen Continuum. www.alternativebreaks.org.
D'Ambrosi, Lucia. "relations and Organizational Forms of Active Citizenship." European Scientific Journal 10.32 (2014)Web.
Kouzes, Leadership is Everyone's Business. (13).
Mode, About The. The Social Change Model of Leadership Development (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
Pipher, M., Reluctant Activists. In The Green Boat; Reving Oursleves in a Capsized Culture, Riverhead Books: 2013.
Ryan, Maria, Margaret Piasecka, and Simone Pettigrew. "Recruiting Active Citizens." Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing 22.3 (2010): 180-97. Web.
Scheerens, J. Informal Learning of Active Citizenship at School: An International Comparative Study in Seven European Countries. 14 Vol. Dordrecht: Springer, 2009. Web.