Tuesday, January 15, 2008 at 12:12am
Why I'm not a party girl
Column: Life at First Sight
This week, my town, my whole state has an aura of calm after the storm.
Oh, the weather has something to do with that, of course. After relentless weeks of deep freeze — and deep snow that has arrived in wave after wave over this last month, we're finally having a thaw. It's possible to walk safely on most surfaces again now, and far safer at intersections, where there's actually some sight-distance as the mountainous snow banks shrink.
Probably one of the nicest days we've had so far really worked to the advantage of the other kind of whirlwind that engulfed our state recently, the one in which folks lined up in record numbers to cast their vote in New Hampshire's now nationally famous presidential primary.
Along with the change in the weather, there was another sort of calm after the storm last Wednesday morning here in New Hampshire. We finally had our phones and our streets back. Just the day before, I had counted six calls in four minutes, four of which proceeded to leave a pre-recorded political message on our answering machine. Then not one, but three separate visitors came to my door to ask whether I had been downtown to cast my vote.
But while politics was the inevitable topic du jour wherever I seemed to turn over these last weeks, I wasn't one of those campaigning on the corner for my favorite candidate. It's not because I don't care about public policy, or because I don't prize my right to vote. Lord knows, too many people sacrificed too much for me to have it in the first place, and I don't take this privilege - and civic duty — lightly. I've volunteered in voter-registration campaigns and offered transportation to polling places. I'm very committed to exercising my vote and to encouraging others to do so.
And, without a doubt, I'm heartened by the response I see among increasing numbers of people, especially ones under the age of 30. They are asking good questions, sometimes large and possibly unsettling ones, and they are taking a deep and personal interest in public policy. They are manifesting Baha'u'llah's admonition: "Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements."
However, I cannot help but notice that so much of the messages in this political season, and in most others in previous years, is deeply divisive. Each candidate traveled up and down my state saying, in a hundred different ways, "Vote for me! Vote for me!" The partisan political process seems to foster personal ambition, disunifying and distressing public discourse, vapid slogans and the struggle for power.
There seems to be a reaction to partisanship that is surfacing in this country. Large numbers seem to have realized that the current hyper-partisan political environment has left government in a broken condition, not truly meeting the needs of the people.
People are expressing a profound hope that a new non-partisan spirit will emerge this year. The new mantra of this political season is "change," and there's been a lot of use of the word "hope" here in New Hampshire over the past week. What remains to be seen is the perennial question of every political season: Will our elected leaders deliver on their promises? Unfortunately, in our partisan political world all too often the results are profoundly disappointing.
By contrast, as a Baha'i, I find something in the teachings of Baha'u'llah that gives me a lot of hope. The Baha'i Faith has a very interesting electoral process of its own. The Faith has no clergy and the affairs of the community are administered through nine-member governing councils on the local, national and international levels that are elected without any campaigning, nominations or electioneering.
In the Baha'i Faith, elections are sacred events, clothed in prayer, nurtured in reflection, conducted in quiet. In the absence of campaigning, the elections go forward without anyone going around and saying "vote for me, vote for me!" These elections are carried out by a most egalitarian "body politic." There are no opposing candidates to sling mud at because there are no candidates at all - those who can vote are also eligible to be elected. The individual votes for those he or she thinks are best suited for service on a Baha'i elected body.
Baha'i elections aim to identify servants of the community who, through their own growth and maturation, particularly spiritual maturation, have acquired the kinds of attitudes, abilities and qualities that can promote justice, dispel oppression, and foster a deep and real unity between even the most estranged and alienated of peoples.
And being elected is not so much an opportunity to govern as it is to serve. It is a sacred duty, literally a calling from the community because you didn't seek it out, and it often involves sacrifice. Ambitions to acquire a position or striving to gain an advantage for a subgroup within the community (usually at the expense of the whole) are the very antithesis of Baha'i elections. Instead, leadership is expressed through humility, love for the community, and the desire to help everyone use their talents to the best of their ability.
The faith's approach to democratic process leaves no room for partisanship and thus increases the likelihood that those elected will not be driven by personal ambition or be bound by narrow interests, but rather will seek the well-being of all, within the context of the well-being of the entire planet.
Of course, no Baha'i would ever claim to live up to these ideals perfectly, but in the 30 years I've been privileged to experience the Baha'i election process, I've seen its real viability as a model of governance truly of the people, by the people and for the people.
— — —
Phyllis Edgerly Ring, mother of two, is a writer and editor. Her current book project addresses how adults can recognize and nurture children's spiritual nature. She is a former program director at Green Acre Baha'i School in Eliot, Maine, and has been a member of the Baha'i Faith for more than 30 years. Email her at {email columns@bahai.us}columns@bahai.us{/email}. See the website of the Baha'is of the United States for more information. © Copyright 2008 by Phyllis Edgerly Ring.
Oh, the weather has something to do with that, of course. After relentless weeks of deep freeze — and deep snow that has arrived in wave after wave over this last month, we're finally having a thaw. It's possible to walk safely on most surfaces again now, and far safer at intersections, where there's actually some sight-distance as the mountainous snow banks shrink.
Probably one of the nicest days we've had so far really worked to the advantage of the other kind of whirlwind that engulfed our state recently, the one in which folks lined up in record numbers to cast their vote in New Hampshire's now nationally famous presidential primary.
Along with the change in the weather, there was another sort of calm after the storm last Wednesday morning here in New Hampshire. We finally had our phones and our streets back. Just the day before, I had counted six calls in four minutes, four of which proceeded to leave a pre-recorded political message on our answering machine. Then not one, but three separate visitors came to my door to ask whether I had been downtown to cast my vote.
But while politics was the inevitable topic du jour wherever I seemed to turn over these last weeks, I wasn't one of those campaigning on the corner for my favorite candidate. It's not because I don't care about public policy, or because I don't prize my right to vote. Lord knows, too many people sacrificed too much for me to have it in the first place, and I don't take this privilege - and civic duty — lightly. I've volunteered in voter-registration campaigns and offered transportation to polling places. I'm very committed to exercising my vote and to encouraging others to do so.
And, without a doubt, I'm heartened by the response I see among increasing numbers of people, especially ones under the age of 30. They are asking good questions, sometimes large and possibly unsettling ones, and they are taking a deep and personal interest in public policy. They are manifesting Baha'u'llah's admonition: "Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements."
However, I cannot help but notice that so much of the messages in this political season, and in most others in previous years, is deeply divisive. Each candidate traveled up and down my state saying, in a hundred different ways, "Vote for me! Vote for me!" The partisan political process seems to foster personal ambition, disunifying and distressing public discourse, vapid slogans and the struggle for power.
There seems to be a reaction to partisanship that is surfacing in this country. Large numbers seem to have realized that the current hyper-partisan political environment has left government in a broken condition, not truly meeting the needs of the people.
People are expressing a profound hope that a new non-partisan spirit will emerge this year. The new mantra of this political season is "change," and there's been a lot of use of the word "hope" here in New Hampshire over the past week. What remains to be seen is the perennial question of every political season: Will our elected leaders deliver on their promises? Unfortunately, in our partisan political world all too often the results are profoundly disappointing.
By contrast, as a Baha'i, I find something in the teachings of Baha'u'llah that gives me a lot of hope. The Baha'i Faith has a very interesting electoral process of its own. The Faith has no clergy and the affairs of the community are administered through nine-member governing councils on the local, national and international levels that are elected without any campaigning, nominations or electioneering.
In the Baha'i Faith, elections are sacred events, clothed in prayer, nurtured in reflection, conducted in quiet. In the absence of campaigning, the elections go forward without anyone going around and saying "vote for me, vote for me!" These elections are carried out by a most egalitarian "body politic." There are no opposing candidates to sling mud at because there are no candidates at all - those who can vote are also eligible to be elected. The individual votes for those he or she thinks are best suited for service on a Baha'i elected body.
Baha'i elections aim to identify servants of the community who, through their own growth and maturation, particularly spiritual maturation, have acquired the kinds of attitudes, abilities and qualities that can promote justice, dispel oppression, and foster a deep and real unity between even the most estranged and alienated of peoples.
And being elected is not so much an opportunity to govern as it is to serve. It is a sacred duty, literally a calling from the community because you didn't seek it out, and it often involves sacrifice. Ambitions to acquire a position or striving to gain an advantage for a subgroup within the community (usually at the expense of the whole) are the very antithesis of Baha'i elections. Instead, leadership is expressed through humility, love for the community, and the desire to help everyone use their talents to the best of their ability.
The faith's approach to democratic process leaves no room for partisanship and thus increases the likelihood that those elected will not be driven by personal ambition or be bound by narrow interests, but rather will seek the well-being of all, within the context of the well-being of the entire planet.
Of course, no Baha'i would ever claim to live up to these ideals perfectly, but in the 30 years I've been privileged to experience the Baha'i election process, I've seen its real viability as a model of governance truly of the people, by the people and for the people.
— — —
Phyllis Edgerly Ring, mother of two, is a writer and editor. Her current book project addresses how adults can recognize and nurture children's spiritual nature. She is a former program director at Green Acre Baha'i School in Eliot, Maine, and has been a member of the Baha'i Faith for more than 30 years. Email her at {email columns@bahai.us}columns@bahai.us{/email}. See the website of the Baha'is of the United States for more information. © Copyright 2008 by Phyllis Edgerly Ring.