Gaining perspective from youthful ambition

Our nation, deeply entrenched in set ways, has devolved.

It seems we’re constantly on the attack to denigrate or discount the opposition and we’re mostly impervious to other points of view. A lower standard of behavior and thinking has become the norm. We all seem to know it all. We love to gorge ourselves on information snippets from partisan media — Fox News on one side, MSNBC on the other. After all, it feels good to snuggle up to what we expect to hear or read. Then, after we’re loaded with misinformation and animosity, it’s time to cozy up to the keyboard to hunt for faceless prey on social media, belching out all that we’ve taken in with a grand display of perceived intellect.

All of this, of course, from the comfort and safety of home.

When trying to understand the world around us, in this case just politics, stepping back to view this on a local level and from those just starting out can be enlightening.

Let’s try on these comments for size:

“What I saw (the 2016 election), how the candidates spoke and what they really spoke about, it wasn’t what I thought politics was. It turned out this is a really new thing, this isn’t how politics used to be and it wasn’t all name calling and immature (behavior).”

“From talking to some of the people in my school, they supported one candidate but didn’t really know anything past their slogan. I think it’s really important to know what you’re really supporting when you’re supporting a candidate.”

“I see how important it is for people to be informed about what is going on, informed about policy, how certain things will affect or won’t affect them.”

These quotes came from Cameron Kilpatrick, a 17-year-old high school senior who shows wisdom well beyond his years — wisdom we should all absorb.

Students from Rome Free Academy, including Kilpatrick, have been getting lessons in local government from the source. The Rome Common Council recently launched the Rome Youth Council for students who want to learn and get more involved in government. Now let’s all try this on for size. This same group of high school students has attended three public meetings already. How many did you attend this past year? The past decade?

Instead of being armchair quarterbacks, they’ve chosen to get in the game. And with visits to these meetings comes perspective on elected officials, issues and the proper display of behavior. Remember, these are students not even old enough to vote but they will gain knowledge from the source that many adults will never experience.

Opportunities to meet and talk to those we’ve voted into office are abundant. Public meetings often are sparsely attended due to complacency, but try to take away this, or tax me for that, and the socialmedia bells begin to ring with all sorts of uninformed solutions and name calling. All of which stagnate in the abyss of the Web.

Imagine instead, talking to officials face to face about issues. Hearing opposing views from your community members. Getting information firsthand instead of through the social media funnel.

It’s time we reverse the national trend by starting at the local level.

Say goodbye to behaviors of the past and make 2018 the year we all step up to the plate. A group of students is making that effort. Why not you?

The editorial first appeared in the Observer-Dispatch ( Utica, N.Y.).