Civic Action

Saint Joe's primary goal as an educator is to encourage us to be "people with and for others". I have a real sense of civic action and firmly believe that each person is here to help one another and advance society as a whole. Humans by nature are communal. So why does this sense of justice and duty to others not really apply as well? I believe that we must step outside of the little bumps and bruises of our own lives and dedicate some of our time and effort into improving the lives of the oppressed and less fortunate. We have become too consumed in our blackberrys, facebooks, youtube videos, and twitters that we lose sight of reality. Little do many of us realize that these objects of our dearest affection could be the key to advancing justice. Our generation has the world at our fingertips. We should therefore put our resources to good use.

I have a challenge for myself and our generation. Instead of using our blackberrys to gossip via meaningless texts, let's use them to network in order to advance a cause. Let's text to donate to victims in Haiti. Rather than facebook stalking old boyfriends, let's unite people around a common cause. Become a fan of COde Pink: Women for Peace http://www.codepink4peace.org/ instead of The Hangover. Before you go to tweet that you're hitting up Main St tonight, tweet about the dangers of domestic violence. We have all the tools, the only peace our generation has yet to prove is if we have the heart.

Here is a link to Amnesty International and one of their causes of violence against women. Check it out. See what change you can make with the tools at your disposal.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/campaigns/stop-violence-against-women