Since I left the service-learning field I've just been a quiet lurker
on this list. However, living here in the DC area - literally just a
couple of miles from the Pentagon - I'd like to suggest that those of
you looking for ways to respond to these events consider something
beyond the immediate tragedy and the likely retaliation.
For several years we've debated long in hard in this forum about the
"Bowling Alone" phenomenon and asked what does it mean that we don't
seem to connect with one another anymore or are involved in more
civic causes/organizations. Yet in times like this it seems that many
in NY and DC have found a way to (for the moment) to get beyond this
civil malaise and assist one another. (Note the people trying to help
one another from the crash scenes, iron-workers volunteering to help
with the recovery, the health-care workers responding to the scene,
etc.) Let me suggest then that in some of your reflection sessions
with your students, consider discussing the positive community spirit
evident amid the rubble of these events. Think about the similar
collaborative spirit evident in other towns (perhaps even some near
you) during other recent calamities. What does it tell us about the
kind of people/society we are? What does it tell us about the people
we know we can, and perhaps SHOULD be? And more importantly now, how
can we get beyond our isolated cocoons and maintain these affinities?
These kind of questions will increasingly be important for all of us
to consider if we're ever to build a more civil society in our nation
and localities - not to mention our global community.
Just a thought,
-Lloyd-
Lloyd Jacobson, MSW
Arlington, VA