Read This!

This is a little long, but i think it matters, so bear with me.

So i know this is supposed to be my travel blog, and that i should be writing about how we celebrated Thanksgiving out on my friend's deck watching the sunset over the ocean, and how i went paragliding last weekend, and how Vanessa and i went swimming on a forbidden beach, and about the picnic we had on the beach yesterday for my friend Alex's birthday, and posting pictures of all of those things. And i will do that, i promise. But last week was a rough week for me for reasons completely unrelated to my life on the island, and that's what i want to write about today.

Four things i've read or seen over the past few weeks were heavily on my mind:
1) Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam. This is probably old news to a lot of people since the book came out in 1999, but i just finally got around to reading it. It examines the ways that "social capital" - the tendency to associate with others, both for formal reasons like political activism, and informal activities like just hanging out with friends - has been steadily declining in America. It creates an extremely disturbing picture of Americans as increasingly self-centered and disengaged, and suggests that this problem is getting worse with each subsequent generation.
2) Confessions of An Economic Hitman by John Perkins. The story of an American business man who worked as an energy consultant to developing nations, encouraging them to build up foreign debt. This is controversial, but even if one refuses to take it at face value, it still raises some important questions about how blissfully (read: ignorantly) we in the developed world prosper off of the suffering of others.
3) The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende. This is a work of fiction, but it chronicles the rise and fall of Salvador Allende in Chile, and taken in concert with the previous work leads to some pretty disturbing questions about US involvement in South America.
4) The Road to Guantanamo. I've learned that there are plenty of people back in the States who haven't even heard of this film. Again, there are certain questions of bias, but again, no matter what it's pretty clear that some of the actions of the American military in Guantanamo are just plain wrong. I have spent a fair portion of my life in other countries; i have been confronted numerous times with the stereotype of the ugly American; i have studied or even witnessed many of the political, social, and cutural problems facing our nation; i have never been shy about criticizing the things i dislike about American people or the American government - but i have always, always, ALWAYS loved my country and been incredibly proud of all of the good that we have done, that we possess, and that we believed in. I have been ashamed of the actions of the Bush Administration often, but i have NEVER been ashamed of being American. Until i saw Road to Guantanamo. And that made me sadder and more angry than i can possibly express.

So with all of these things in my head, not to mention the articles i read in the newspaper every day, i was both feeling angry with myself for hanging out on a tropical island and playing with small children instead of being out in the world trying to fix things and at the same time feeling completely overwhelmed by the magnitude and number of the world's problems; i felt entirely powerless, like i could work all my life at trying to make things better, but never really do a thing, and i was depressed all week.

But here's the thing. I have NEVER subscribed to defeatism or nihilism, and while i don't know if the world is perfectable, i do absolutely believe that it can be made better, and that that can happen through the actions of ordinary people. Whatever problems of racism and sexism still remain in the United States, they are better because ordinary people joined in the Civil and Womens Rights movements; whatever instability still remains in Eastern Europe, the lives of millions are better because ordinary people rose up against Soviet Oppression in the 80s. And these are just two examples; in the vastness of world history there are many, many more - we've done it before and we can do it again.

And in the 21st century, successful attempts to make the world a better place are going to have to incorporate new mass communications tools. So i'm going to use the tools available to me - this blog - to do what i can do while i'm stuck on my isolated tropical island. And here's what i came up with:

The average American watches 28 hours of television a week. (That statistic comes from 1998, but i see no reason to believe it's done anything but gone up).

So i am asking if everyone who reads this blog will do three things:

1) Spend one hour/week that you would usually spend watching tv volunteering. One hour. Pick a cause, any cause. Cook at a soup kitchen, pick up trash, work for a political party - even if it's the Republicans. Just do something that you think will help fix the problems that are important to you.

2) I don't believe an American exists who actually believes that our government should torture innocent people. But it's happening as i type this. Why? Because we are uninformed - we don't pay enough attention to what's going on to exercise the control over our government that is our democratic privelege and responsibility. So i'm asking that everyone spend one hour a week that you would spend watching entertainment programming, watching the news instead. Or better yet, turn off the tv entirely and read a newspaper or seek out alternative news sources, apart from corporate media. We are a part of the world, and can't escape the effect that world events have on us. Being informed is just plain safer and smarter.

3) Spend half an hour a week that you would spend watching tv talking to a friend or family member who's far away, or writing a letter or an e-mail. Yeah, i know this seems like a shameless plea for more letters. It's not, i promise. But seriously, i'm sure everyone knows the pleasure of opening a mailbox or an inbox to an unexpected personal note, and how much just chatting with a friend can brighten our days. I know that i like those things much better even than any episode of the Daily Show that i've ever seen, and that's saying a lot.

So there we go - three simple things, and you've done something to help the world AND you're still left with 25.5 hours (aka MORE THAN A DAY) of television a week. I know that in a large way i'm probably preaching to the choir - most people who read this are caring, informed and involved; a lot of you are in non-profit jobs and a lot do volunteer work - and let me just take this moment to throw out a shout-out to my dad, who does amazing ESL volunteer work every week, and who recently took a week off from work to go help rebuild New Orleans. I'm incredibly proud of him and inspired by him, and i don't tell him that enough. But still, as much as i know that you are all wonderful, active people, i'm willing to bet that there are a fair number of you who share my nagging feeling that i could be doing more. And i'm not exempting myself from this challenge. I'm going to find volunteer activities here on the island, and i plan to write more e-mails to more people, and follow world news more closely.

What happened to the "Random acts of Kindness" and "50 Simple Things You can do to Save the Earth" movements? We need to bring those back. In the midst of my depression last week i thought about what my mother would say to comfort me, and i realized that she would probably quote Mother Teresa: "We cannot do great things; we can only do small things with great love." So that's what i'm asking of everyone, because if enough of us do small things, they will build into something great.

i love y'all.