Your question is a thoughtful one. The reason I have not chosen community service over jail time when protesting government policy like the Iraq War or the testing of nuclear weapons at the Nevada Test Site, is that going to federal jail is a continuing statement that I disagree with government policy. I am continuing my peaceful protest. The jails are run by the government and, as a peaceful protester there you are a reminder to them of the issue you are protesting.

I also believe that peaceful protesting, vigilling and civil disobedience IS community service.

With community service often comes probation, and that means that I am “disallowed” from civil disobedience for a certain period of time, usually a year. With issues as serious as nuclear weapons and war, why would I want to stymie my right to commit civil disobedience? Of course, I could just disobey that rule, since I am disobeying others, but I guess it is the principle of the thing.

With my arrest last year over the destruction of the EV1s, I took community service because, since my protest was against the General Motors Corporation and not the government, it didn’t feel helpful to go to jail. Colette’s and my main goal of getting media attention to the crushing of electric cars had been accomplished with our blockade of the trucks. The civil disobedience and subsequent arrest got noticed all around the world.

I think community service is a great alternative to jail time for a lot of situations – it does give back to society and can be a rewarding experience for everyone. But when I am protesting my government, I choose jail. Read Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail (easily googled) for more about civil disobedience.

Thank you for writing, and for your kind, supportive words.

Alexandra

Dear Shaun,

How wonderful that you are volunteering with your local animal shelter! I am very impressed, especially
because you are 16 and already a humanitarian yourself!

I think the feelings I had in Mississippi are the same ones that you feel when you helping at your local
shelter. There is perhaps a bit more sense of urgency among the volunteers during a crisis, but the help you are giving the animals where you live is no less important and just as needed. In fact, I believe that true heroics and altruism is done when no one else notices, on an ordinary day like any other when it could be so easy just to go about our lives oblivious to the suffering of others. Sounds like what you are doing!

I think I have said this before on my site, but the advice columnist Ann Landers wrote that best way to get over depression, boredom, a lack of purpose or to raise our own self esteem is to give our time to making the world a better place for others. I think she is so right.

Keep up the great work! Hopefully volunteering will be a part of your life always.

Alexandra

You are sooo right. There is a lot about which I don’t agree with Ayn Rand! Firstly, she would be a staunch, conservative Republican voting for George Bush if she were alive today. Her Philosophy of Objectivism is, in her own words: “ …. the concept of Man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason his only absolute”. My philosophy of life is, “When in doubt, do the kindest thing” and “It is all about Love”. Ayn Rand would laugh at me as she would think I was weak!

Her feelings on the environment are very different from mine:
“Earth Day is celebrated every year as the symbol of environmentalism. What is environmentalism? Contrary to much popular belief, environmentalism is not a benevolent movement seeking to improve man’s life by cleaning up the air and water. As a doctrine — an “ism” — it is fundamentally an attack on the ideals of Western civilization. Opposed to science, technology, and economic development, environmentalism holds that the non-human has value but the human does not. Environmentalism has become the gravest threat to human survival. Under the guise of advocating clear air and nice treatment to pets, environmentalism aims to retard and then dismantle our industrial/technological society. Environmentalism regards all human productivity and progress as an intrusion on the sanctity of nature and on the “rights” of animals.

Fundamentally opposed to reason and science, environmentalism uses false scientific claims to frighten the unwary. With a doomsday mentality reminiscent of Dark Age fanatics, environmentalists place every possible legal (and illegal) roadblock in the way of new inventions and economic development, from the local to the international level. If environmentalism is successful in its assault on Western values, your life on earth will become increasingly difficult, as your wealth and freedom slowly decrease. Had environmentalism taken hold in the 19th century, you would not have the electricity or computers on which to read these words.”

Ayn Rand and I definitely do not see eye to eye on environmentalists either! However, I was riveted by her books because they were excellent stories. They also had a big impact on me because when I read them (around age 20), I really thought that being nice was the most important thing to be. Through “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead”, I learned that being respected was more important. That was a huge realization for me and really empowered me.

Your are right to ask me about this: my dad, who was a conservative Republican himself, always used to say he had hopes for me because I liked Ayn Rand, but alas I am as liberal as they come!

One last comment: you mentioned that these are frightful times. Yes, I believe that the United States has lost its way as a great democracy in the last 5 years. But I also believe that overall the world is a better place than it was 50 years ago. In most every country, young people are more tolerant and open minded than ever before; people are more literate around the world; the status of women has risen tremendously; animals are understood as being able to feel pain (although billions of creatures have horrible lives and cruel deaths in factory farms, which wasn’t the case 50 years ago). I would wager that over 80% of the world agrees with you and me that the US government is wrong on the war in Iraq and that Bush has done much more harm than good to our planet, so these “frightful times” will soon be over.

Thank you for your wonderful question.

Alexandra