"Democracy belongs to those who show up."

Oh, I really like Jim Hightower. Always have.

There's a brief article of his re-printed on Common Dreams today entitled "Six Things to Do in 2010". It's about how to make a difference (politically, that is) on a grass roots level.

Here's his number one suggestion:

1. Start by considering what's reasonable for you. Few of us can be full-time activists, and the list of issues and problems is long and complex. So, just take one bite, choosing an issue that interests you the most, then start contributing what you can (time, skills, contacts, money, enthusiasm, etc.) to making progress. Every little contribution helps - it all adds up. As a young Oregon woman said of her half-day-a-week of volunteer door-knocking in a legislative race: "I was only a drop in the bucket, but I was a drop. And without all of us, the bucket would not have filled up."

That is so, so true.

I've really learned that in spades since we registered St. John's Center with the GoodSearch organization. I'm amazed at how much resistence I have encountered even from very loyal Center participants to using GoodSearch and GoodShop even occasionally. They are convinced it's not worth it because each search only raises about a penny for the Center. The thing is, those pennies add up. Even with the few people using it that we now have, the Center has raised over $1,500 since we signed up. Wow. If all of our supporters would get involved we could help ourselves enormously.

Just sayin'.

(By the way, if you'd like to participate in the program I've mentioned above, it's much easier if you download the GoodSearch tool bar. Also, I often tell people that even if they really prefer Google as a search engine, they can still help us by using GoodSearch for just one or two searches a day - you know, for very obvious searches that you know any search engine will find. One more thing: be sure and use our complete name, St. John's Center for Spiritual Formation, when you type in the charity of your choice.)
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