A defense of civic engagement and awareness

I thank my parents very, very often for giving me the opportunity to be born on United States soil—to be a citizen in a country that appreciates my voice and position as a member of the community and nation. The United States I know and love is a unique network of families, schools, town halls, places of worship, neighborhoods and state capitols. We are not defined prima facie by our incomes or wealth or the businesses that we grow. We are instead defined by the community that our businesses enable us to build and support. We are driven by a constant hope for something bigger and better, not only for ourselves but also for our compatriots.

My dad came here to get a world-class education and enter into a booming job market, giving back to his new home along the way. But I do not believe that America’s single, most prominent pull to immigrants is its identity as the “land of opportunity for all.” The identity centered around the ideal of prosperity often, and quite unfortunately, overshadows this land’s identity as being home to a thriving civil society that holds far more potential for participation, representation and leadership than those in many other countries around the world.

In the almost three years that I have been at Duke, I have gotten to know friends and classmates who are on their respective career and ambition tracks, entering Duke through one door and leaving out the other without taking the time to become active, contributing members of Duke’s vibrant cultural or political communities. We live our experience at Duke as it comes, most of us never stopping to consider how we might shape that experience through a position on organizations like Duke Partnership for Service, Duke University Union (LDOC, anyone?), or Duke/Engineering Student Government.

I am afraid that what we are today, at the micro-level, will be what we are tomorrow at the macro-level. I’m afraid that we will forget our lessons on American history and civics, and that our roles as members and stakeholders in this American community are far more important to our sense of self than our positions as employees or executives at some company. We will pay fleeting attention to electing and lobbying the governors, congressmen and women and senators who will draft legislation affecting our children’s education and job opportunities and the taxes we pay our government. We will exist in our society without truly being there or aware.

But I hope to once again see an America where teenagers will be as excited to turn 18 as they are to turn 16 or 21, an America where more and more Duke students and American citizens will vote for and hold their leaders accountable to realize the policies they promise for a new and improved society. As dysfunctional as we think Duke Student Government, Congress or the Executive branch might be, we should remember that there are leaders within those institutions fighting to change policies on ultimately impactful issues. I know that each and every one of Duke’s students who did not vote in November’s midterm elections or this past Tuesday’s student body elections has an opinion on everything from America’s involvement abroad and its oil and gas boom, to bringing back Duke’s tailgate and the LDOC of yore. I look forward to a time when my generation complements its professional ambitions with equally ambitious dreams to also serve its community and country as informed leaders. I envision us not as passive commentators engaging in armchair discourse, protests and marches but as active members of society who go out into the field to communicate and work effectively with one another.

While it can seem, sometimes, that what goes on in the way of politics and policy has very little to offer us in our day-to-day lives, I believe that elected officials and their policies truly have the power to improve the country. Every student here wants to change the world in some way, and every citizen is blessed with access to civic engagement as one of the most direct channels to forward that change.

Pi Praveen is a Trinity junior and president of Duke Political Union.