My favorite thing about a football game is THE WAVE. The best part of baseball is when everybody in the stadium yells “CHARGE!!”. I love (picture me putting my hands in the shape of a heart) line dancing.
Is it any surprise that I’m also a huge fan of democracy? Democracy is “a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members…”. On its best day, democracy is kind of like a well-coordinated wave at a football game, don’t you think? Everybody pays attention to what everybody else is doing. Then everybody gets a turn both standing up… and sitting down. There is no “star” of the wave. It’s a team triumph. It reminds me why I cherished my outrigger canoe paddling team in high school (I lived in Hawaii at the time, not Goshen). Literally in the same boat, we won or lost together (okay, we never won).
All of this is just to say that I really, really like it when people work together. I like it when people succeed together. And, frankly, even loss is less of a poke in the eye when it’s shared.
So that’s my emotional/philosophical underpinning (togetherness = good). This is not to suggest that I roll over for the sake of harmony, or that I don’t ever get cranky when working with a group. Community collaboration is essential, but often very difficult. Democracy is one great big negotiation — and it can be exhausting.
But what else is there? Monarchy? Tyranny? Theocracy? As former Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, once said, “Democracy is good. I say this because other systems are worse.” If you agree with that sentiment, please visit often.
Basics about Me:
- 29-year Goshen resident
- Married 29 years to Stuart Meade
- Daughter, Maya, born and raised in Goshen
- Former Neighborhood Outreach Coordinator for LaCasa
- Former freelance writer (essays heard on NPR’s Morning Edition and Living on Earth; PRI’s Marketplace; Great Lakes Radio Consortium)
- Places I’ve served over the years: Goshen Adult Literacy Program, Ten Thousand Villages, Goshen Community Relations Commission, Women’s Action for New Direction, Study Circles on Race Relations, Historic Racemere Peninsula Neighborhood, United Way Reading Camp (etc.).
Random useless information about Me:
- Cleans kitchen sink for fun
- Can do 20 for real, standard push-ups
- Likes to brag about how she (that’s me) can do 20 for real, standard push-ups