Make Getting More Involved in Your Community: a New Year’s Resolution
In Utah, it can be tempting to close ourselves off to our communities because we are so involved elsewhere, either with our families, church, or jobs. Or, we may feel like we don’t fit in with the dominant culture or demographic in our communities. While Utah has improvements to make, we are lucky to live in an area that has low crime, low cost of living, and is a beautiful place to live. When problems aren’t obvious it can seem like getting involved doesn’t make much sense or that our talent would be better served helping those in other areas that have it much worse.
I am challenging myself to get more involved in my community in 2019. I am going to go to at least one city council meeting and pay more attention to the local legislature here in the Beehive State. I’m going to make sure that I know more about the people who represent me. Overall, we have one of the lowest rates for voter participation in the country, and it’s even lower for women. Maybe we don’t have the time, or maybe we don’t see the point. But, we are doing a massive disservice to our forebears who fought for this right to get involved.
Next time you get frustrated about something you see or experience in your community, do something about it! Next time you’re tempted to turn on cable news or read a national news outlet, turn to a local option instead. If we all paid a little bit more attention to what was happening around us, we could prevent many of the problems that become federal issues.
We are lucky to live in Utah, but we have to make sure we don’t take it for granted.