Like a lot of people that came of age in the late 90’s/early 2000’s, I came up in a world where being too involved in things like government or community organizations was treated as quaint at best, or a sign of a lame busybody at worst. My grandmother volunteered as a poll worker for as long as I can remember, and everyone around my age acted like that was a strange thing for her to do. Sure, voting is important, but why would she dedicate a whole day every few months to it? Surely there were people whose job it was to run those for us, right? She almost never seemed to talk about politics otherwise; it would have made more sense why she volunteered to do that if she was.

Now, I DO think that her doing that is “quaint” in the sense that it is a remnant of something that a lot more people had when she was younger: a sense of civic responsibility. Not just responsibility to yourself and your family and friends, but to the broader community in which we all exist together. I think that the decline in the value people place on that is a pretty recent thing, and I think it has been to our collective detriment.

A free and democratic society MUST have some civic engagement from the majority of the population to remain free and democratic. All functions cannot be performed just by the professionals whose “job it is” (though it is good for that society to pay some people to be specialists in these jobs), leadership cannot just be for the people who are skilled at political actions (though we need those types to help rally others).

Voting is part of this engagement, yes. But it’s just the minimum. You cannot just vote every 2-4 years; even voting in EVERY election including primaries and local elections is not enough (though if you’re only voting in the major ones every 2-4 years, getting involved in those others is a GREAT place to start increasing your involvement and you might be surprised as how much impact it has).

There are MANY ways you can help out your community. There are obvious things like volunteering your time or donating money to any various number of organizations that rely on both, but those avenues are not available to everyone.

I moved to a small enclave suburb a few years ago for a relatively dense neighborhood filled with parks, restaurants, and other attractions all in a relatively small area. Living in that environment I quickly found that it encourages people to be involved with their neighbors in a way I hadn’t seen much in my life (other than in that small town in which my grandmother volunteered as a poll worker). Not in a nosy, spy on your neighbors kind of way, but in that we say hi as we pass each other on the street. And I quickly discovered that a lot of the things that make our community so great are mostly powered by other people like me, giving a little time with a small group of neighbors to help keep the community vibrant.

As a volunteer, I’ve worked to plan and host an event where we spend a day visiting many of our local restaurants and bars to get acquainted with all their variety. I’ve worked with neighbors to learn composting (to help reduce our trash production while improving our gardens) which has even led to city-wide composting drop off program. I’ve joined our town’s library board which helps provide oversight and guidance for the dedicated librarians that do so much to enrich our community freely.

There are opportunities in your town like these. Some will be for large non profit organizations or related to your city government, while others will be small community groups or even just an informal gathering of like-minded neighbors. But there’s something out there that needs a little help from YOU. That’s how communities have always thrived, it’s just something we may have lost sight of a little bit. I think you’ll be a lot happier and feel a lot more connected to your community if you just go out and get involved even if only in a small way.

B. German – MCN Supporter