Sometimes it is so easy to live in a bubble. As long as things are moving along for us, it
is easy not to pay attention to stuff, until it is put in our face. I don’t say that nonchalantly, because I
actually do pay a lot of attention to the news and what is going on in our
nation and around the world and still, I miss some things.
Take today for instance.
I was listening to National Public Radio’s discussion about voting and
they brought up a situation unfamiliar to me.
Did you know that in North Dakota they are scrambling so
that Native Americans can vote? They have this controversial voter ID
requirement that you must have a street address in order to vote. Now for those of us who have a street
address, it is easy for us to say, “Yeah, that makes sense.”
But what if you are a member of a tribe and you live in a
very rural area where—being a sovereign nation without a street address system—you
only have a Post Office box?
They described on the NPR show 1A today that in order to
obtain the Post Office Box, you have to fill out a form where—without a street
address—you have to write in a description like “lives 4 miles from the
highway.”
So now, apparently, they are working to establish street
addresses for those who live on reservations—and get them printed up—in the hope that it will be sufficient to allow
them to vote in the upcoming election next week.
It is not that the members of the tribes don’t have IDs,
because they do. They just don’t have street addresses or other supplemental information. Apparently this battle over
voting requirements is a long one. It
looks like it is a complicated issue and not as simple as I am describing it
here, but nevertheless, it could make quite an impact on the upcoming election.
My point to all of this is, do we care? Do we care about
things that do not affect us personally?
Do we care about the dignity of the people affected—which, as it turns
out are both native and non-native residents?
Do we care what happens in North Dakota?
Too often, if we perceive that we cannot do anything about
it, we do not really give it much attention.
After all, we cannot save the world, right?
Years ago I taught a life issues class to Confirmation
students and their sponsors. One of the
topics we covered was abortion. The
point I made to them then, and the one I am making today, is that we are all affected by what is going on
around us, whether it be in our nation or our neighborhood.
As a society, we create organizations and social structures
that reflect who we are—do they promote caring for the poor and disabled? What do they say about upholding human
dignity and human life? Does our evolving
society strive for what is best for the *common good?
Whether it is in North Dakota or the North Pole, ideas and
concepts that take shape in one part of our world tend to flow out to others. What do we accept? What do we reject? What are we willing to
tolerate? What do we notice?
If we begin in our families and our communities and make sound
ethical and moral decisions, then we, too, can make an impact on our society,
carrying with us the potential to shape who we become.
In doing so, we have the potential to change the world
around us.
God bless,
Janet Cassidy
Janetcassidy.com
The common good is the complete
development of all the people of the world. John XXIII describes it as ‘the sum
total of conditions of social living, whereby persons are enabled more fully
and readily to achieve their own perfection.’ Materet Magistra– “Mother and Teacher” (1961), paragraph 65
The idea therefore differs from that
of pursuing the ‘greatest good for the greatest number,’ with which it is
sometimes confused, because the pursuit of the common good entrusts, both to
the government and the Church, care for the greatest good of all persons, not
just the greatest possible number. No individual is excluded from the common
good. It is also therefore linked to the ideas of human dignity and authentic
and integral human development, making them central aims of all societies.
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