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Make change through service, author urges

By Ashley Ames Democrat staff writer Published: June 22. 2011 2:00AM

thousands across the nation. A woman diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease who, along with her sisters, makes more progress in finding the cure than has been made in nearly 200 years. A man who brings together children from different socioeconomic backgrounds through music. Kiernan's presentation was followed by a panel discussion, moderated by Osteen, about how the idea of authentic patriotism can be realized in Tallahassee. The panel was made up of four women from around the community: Robin Safley, who works with Capital Health Plan on a personal fitness program for schools; Glenda Thornton, who has been active on several boards including United Way and Leadership Tallahassee; Kelly Otte, executive director of the PACE Center for Girls in Tallahassee; and Rebeccah Cantley, managing editor of the Tallahassee Democrat and a board member for the Alzheimer's Project, Inc. Osteen is the director for the Florida State University Center for Leadership and Civic Education.

Laura Osteen looked out into the audience and asked one question. "How many folks in the room worry that we are, as a nation, adrift?" Wordlessly, all of those seated before her raised their hands. A group of more than a hundred volunteers, Village Square and community members gathered Tuesday evening to hear Stephen Kiernan, the author of "Authentic Patriotism," present his idea of what it means to be truly American. He was invited to speak as part of the Village Square's "Divided States of America" series. Village Square is a nonprofit, nonpartisan forum on matters of local, state and national importance. For Kiernan, true patriotism means Americans taking the future of the country into their own hands. "We need to take ownership of our nation," he said, "and consider the well-being of the nation to be our responsibility." Throughout his presentation, Kiernan brought up some of the many issues that face Americans homelessness, poverty, a lack of health insurance and said that the solutions to these problems lay not at the feet of the government nor can they be solved by a free market. Instead, solutions must be driven by everyday individuals who want to see a change. The power of the individual, he said, was what the American Revolution and this country was founded on. "There was a new idea about what an individual is. And it wasn't a subject of the king," he said. "It was somebody who was endowed with inalienable rights." It was time for America and Tallahassee to take advantage of those rights. Supporting this was a variety of examples. A retired physician who opened a free clinic in Hilton Head Island, S.C., which grew to support hundreds of

Thornton said that, while there is always more to be done, Tallahassee is on the right track. "I think as a community, we have a lot to be proud of," she said. "We have a lot of examples of people s tanding up and saying that we are going to do this, we aren't going to wait for the government to fix it because it's not going to happen. We are going to do it ourselves." Safley said that Tallahassee's size makes it a place where change and authentic patriotism are within reach.
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"We are small enough that we can still make a difference," the Tallahassee native said. "But we're complex enough and diverse enough that we really do have some issues." Helping to spread the word will be the Democrat's Community Hands initiative, which includes stories on needed volunteer efforts and donations. The initiative, launched earlier this year, aims to connect the community with local needs. Kiernan calls for every American over age 10 to give three hours a week to a nonprofit cause. "What you get from that is an army of volunteers to deal with the very difficult issues that our nation faces," he said. "It's the equivalent of creating 19 million jobs." But aside from simply helping to solve a problem, volunteering serves as a salve on the national conscience. "People would see how good it feels to serve others," Kiernan said of those who follow the threehour guideline, though any amount of time helps, "and to be part of something larger than yourself."

Author Stephen Kiernan talks about how to truly be a patriot at the Village Square forum. "We need to take ownership of our nation," Kiernan said, "and consider the well-being of the nation to be our responsibility." (Glenn Beil/Democrat) how to help Community hands Community Hands is a Tallahassee Democrat initiative to help link needs in the community with people who can provide resources and hands-on work. To submit a project for coverage consideration, email Sharon Kant-Rauch at srauch@Tallahassee.com or call her at 671-6539.

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Moderator Laura Osteen listens as author Stephen Kiernan answers a question from the audience during Tuesday's Village Square meeting.(Glenn Beil/Democrat)

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