On the drive home from Atlanta last week, I overheard a conversation from a nearby table while dining at a restaurant.
“We’re having elections in our class and I’m running for president,” a young girl said enthusiastically. “My teacher wants me to give her a report why I want to be president.”
She asked her family for advice on what she should tell her teacher:
To make a difference.
To make things better.
To be the voice of the class.
What struck me was that this girl had to be in elementary school... maybe in the 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade.
This girl was as young as Christina-Taylor Green, a 9 year old victim of the Tucson, Arizona shooting that happened earlier in January. The young victim, ironically born on the day of America’s worst modern tragedy-- 11 September 2001-- was an aspiring politician, much like the girl who was sitting near me.
The family’s conversation made me think about the heart of public service, and my own experiences as a child. Like many children, I was encouraged to pursue my dreams of public service to effect change in this world. I remember how the adults around me-- my parents, their friends, and my educators-- would instill in me the importance of public service and the honor to serve one’s country.
I remember my first trip to Tallahassee, a field trip to the Capitol to learn about state government and actually sit in the Legislature and how it would inspire me to think, “I’m coming back here one day.”
Since then, I’ve been hardened by reality. Unfortunately, it is the corruption of a few and the endless bureaucratic drudgery we witness, that increases the collective anger of society and vilifies public service.
In my heart, I wish I could go back and have the idealism and hope like that young child. Perhaps that is the great lesson that young Christina teaches us-- we should look at civic engagement with childlike enthusiasm and hope.