A person who respects his/her community is aware of issues that impact their community and do their part to make their community a better place. Involved in their community and law abiding.

Active w/in community. Involved in elections. Works on change in community.

Unselfishness. Caring. Common sense. Democracy. Schools that include civics and civic participation. Team mentality.

Someone who actively gives back and participates in their community as well as being welcoming to those joining their community.

Respects community. Involvement in community. Care. Participate in the democratic process. Law abiding. Able to respect and appreciate diversity. Flexibility.

The willingness to work for the betterment of the community. To serve the community have morals, honesty, and empathy. They should be knowledgeable of the consequences of their action. Be civic engaged and registered to vote. Good parenting teaches good ethics and morals, be kindhearted and have empathy.

Civically engaged. Registered to vote. Educated in the history of our republic and representative democracy. Morally engaged. Honesty.

A good citizen is someone who follows the laws set in the society but at the same time, makes a meaningful contribution in society. This is not just through economic aspects but also through providing feedback over laws and policies and how they can be made more effective.

Participating in your civic responsibilities.

I have been going around PA and NJ giving Civic Saturdays on how the power in democracy grows when we are able to work in community with others on issues that are important to us. Each meeting begins with the reading of a document or speech that has had an important part in the development of our democracy. The last Saturday service used a speech given by Carie Chapman Catt. Then there is a sermon on democracy. It’s a sermon because we are talking about how we believe in democracy and the ways that it works for us and gives us the power to ensure that our government is of, by and for us, the people of the United States of America. In November’s Civic Saturday, the sermon was about how life experiences prepare us to appreciate democracy and help us understand how important community is in making democracy work for us. After the sermon, we discussed the aspects of our belief in democracy and how the sermon affected them.

The main challenge facing democracy is the lack of civic engagement on the part of the young. To put it bluntly, we are increasingly living in a gerontocracy. Democracy only works when there are enough stakeholders in a democratic society and an understanding that when too many people fall to the bottom–or don’t participate–it drags the middle AND the top down with it. Why is this happening? Because our current leadership is limited by their ideas on both sides of the aisle, and ideas have a very short shelf-life in a world where the only true universal is that the world is entirely subject to change. In other words, nothing is permanent. Leadership must be young, dynamic, courageous, innovative, and flexible because the world changes around us very quickly. Most of our leadership couldn’t explain what variables are with respect to coding, how sophisticated the digital world is, or how to approach our 21st-century information-based economy. I’m not entirely certain I see a vision for progress. It’s time for the young to take the country by storm. That’s why–out of my sense of civic duty–I’ve decided to run for my local Board of Ed. election.