The Beginning

Almost 4 years ago, the following was my plan:

-Finish my year with an international reseller of hardware and software
-Peace Corps for two years
-Return home
-Get my MBA
-Pursue work with an international Ben-and-Jerry's-socially-conscious company

Here I am 4 years later and definitely not heading in that direction. I think the seeds of not heading in that direction were probably sewn in me a while ago but I don't think they pushed through the rough soil of pragmatism until several months into my Peace Corps service.

Why am I writing about this now? I saw a photo on Andrew Sullivan today that reminded me of what first pushed those seeds forth into the light.



This picture was the lead photo of a Newsweek article that I read almost 3 years ago that made me think that it was no longer necessary to try to conflate my honest desire to contribute to my society with a not so sincere business angle. Its not that I am anti-capitalist. Quite the contrary. But we all have your interests - that which drives us. And the article I read in Newsweek that featured the photo above was the catalyst that precipitated my realization that my passions lied outside the corporate realm. Indeed, I think that perhaps the whole reason I felt it necessary to merge such unlikely bedfellows was the commonly shared and nearly ubiquitous feeling that politics was not for people that seriously wanted to see things change. It was a broken system beyond repair in which progress was measured by the blockade of "the other side" and not by the furthering of any specific policy.

But what I saw in the picture above really stirred something inside me. We are allowed to be frustrated with those who see things differently. We are allowed to engage them in heated debate. But always... always, must we comport ourselves with dignity and respect for those with apposing views. This photo embodied that notion - the very notion that led me away from my attempt to conjoin two things - one for which I felt deeply and the other to which I approached tepidly. I realized that both these men - both Barack and John - were willing to look each other in the eye and say, "hey dumbass! lets talk..."

The article I read was not painted with roses and spoke in detail of the differences between these two men but it simultaneously inspired a realization in me that we need not demonize our opposition in order to win. In fact we need not see those with different views as opposition at all. Perhaps we may just yet be able to view others with different views as partners in negotiation. This view does not preclude one from having a particular agenda and pursuing it fervently but it does demand of us civility and scope of perspective boarder than is customary.

I recognize my youth and possible naivety. I hope I am not in error of judgement. I hope that my recent acceptance of politics as a possible arena for civil and constructive debate has not been arrived at in ignorance. This is my starting point.