I feel a need to write this, I don’t know what form this will take but I know its from the heart. I look down at my clock its 124 am Friday morning, the last pure day of this National Academy. I think back to all the excitement I have experienced, this beautiful weather, a walk in Hollywood, the Dodgers, Joshua Tree, making new friends, and realize how special these moments have been. But still they do not measure the full course of what happened this month.
Three weeks ago I wrote an article about a sunset and the foundation of a community at the National Academy. Tonight I realize I write about the physical end of a community, but the beginning of a much bigger mission.
Over the last three weeks we have tried to measure ourselves as coming from one or more political theories, am I a Hobbesian or a Federalist? Do I speak as an Anti Federalist or a Cicerorian? But now I realize that we are not one or the other, or even a little of both, we are something much more fundamental and even more important. WE ARE AMERICANS!! We are truly one people placed together from some many different dynamics. We are neither rich nor poor, we are neither white or black, we are neither Democrats nor Republicans. We are neither student or teacher.
A wise woman beyond her years told me tonight, we all value a citizen that deliberates, but NONE of us truly do that.
We are all too focused on what the next word out of our mouth will be. None of us truly listen. Will speaks of a world that matches the word, while I would like to pose my own world one where we use both of our ears to listen. To truly understand what is being said. And not just disagree for disagreements sake, but understand. Imagine the progress that could be made then. Imagine the world where all citizens not only know how to use the constitution to construct the world they see, but where each citizen is respected for the world they wish to construct. Not a world of liberty and security, but a world of mutual understanding, a world of true growth.
I vow tonight to not only say I listen, but to truly listen. To value my fellow citizen of the world. To not only worry about my own personal story, but to truly worry about how we can change our story. How can we make WE THE PEOPLE truly come true.
I know this may be the ranting of a man who hasn’t slept in three weeks. But I hope not I hope this is the ranting of a man who has been changed for the better. But the only way I can change and continue to change is for interactions like this to keep occurring. Though we cant meet at Occidental ,we can still meet at our own pace at this site. Imagine the ideas that could be generated if we used this site for twenty minutes every month. Let us turn this site into a world making venture. So tonight as I go to bed, I will ask all of you to listen to me as yo would want to be listened to, and I will do my best to listen to you that way as well. Let us deliberate not as opposition but as one people trying to preserve but radical change the world, just as James Madison and Founding Fathers did in 1787.
Thank you
Federal Teacher
20 minutes a month… maybe even leaving a comment in your wake. I like that. KFox made a vow to write a post once a quarter. I’m going to try to do once a month.
If we each make a pledge that fits our life in the real world maybe there will be a pulse here at Politicolor!
I was at the National Academy last year and I have to ditto many of the sentiments shared by FederalTeacher. I look back on the Academy with nostalgic fondness. I wish I had been able to attend this past year…yes, for even second year in a row. I loved the weather in sunny Southern CA. I greatly enjoyed the lovely Occidental campus, food, accommodations, and recreation facilities. I loved visiting Dodger Stadium, the Newport Beach, California churches, and the other various touristy sites. For heaven’s sake, I even got engaged to the most wonderful woman in the world (no offense to any female Academy member!!) while attending the Academy. I also really enjoyed getting to know the many wonderful people that were there last year as well. And I do not just mean to imply that those are the only reasons I enjoyed the Academy. What Dr. Harris and the preceptors have started me doing is teaching civics. What I mean is that I used to teach ABOUT government, and really thought of myself as being firm in my civic knowledge. But now I feel like I KNOW the Constitution better than I ever did before. Now I feel like I don’t just teach about civics but I actually teach civics…actually try to engage my students in being good, productive citizens. I can do this because I have such a better cognitive grasp of the subject matter than I did before. The Academy exposed my infirmities, if you will. I do not claim to have reached the goal of perfect civics teacher, but at least now I can aim for it and actually know what I am aiming for! And I greatly appreciate what Shellee is doing here, trying to maintain the conversation. She is correct, we need to spend more time engaging in political discussion. If we are not, then who really will in this nation? The more we ponder good government, and pass our better thoughts along to our students, the better off America will hopefully be.
Sorry for my evangelistic, emotive, Great Awakening-esque sentiments. But I believe in what the Academy and Politicolor stands for.