What This Will Become

Somewhere between the punditry, pale compromises, and pork barrel spending lies the common ground we've all been searching for. It's a place between arrogance and apathy, vitriol and vice, wisdom and wise cracks. It's the belief that there exists some common bond, some link that belies our understanding of the world as blue and red, black and white, life and death. Indeed, it erodes lines of class and race and religion, crosses species barriers, and goes beyond bumper sticker catchphrases and sound-bite cable news.

Indeed, this common ground is Our Common Concern. It is our shared interest in service and our shared belief in each other. It is a concern that, in the coming weeks and months, will hopefully make this blog a valuable resource for anyone who is tired-- tired of witnessing well-intentioned organizations collapse from bickering, squabbling, and divisiveness; tired of the give-and-take, take-no-prisoners rhetoric we hear all too often from the polished politicians and pining pundits; and tired from the bureaucracy and duplicity and hypocrisy. Tired, and ready for something better.

Soon you will find links to various service activities and organizations on this page. Starting immediately, I am seeking information about Your Concerns-- from fundraising for charity at your high school to starting a charity in college-- that I can post and share with others on this blog. From opportunities to save Darfur to more information about local animal protection groups, this blog will seek to unify a normally disparate array of causes. But because finding Our Common Concern must involve as many people as possible, you will serve not only as an essential participant in this process, but as an essential facilitator of it and an essential ambassador for it. Without you, there can be no Common Concern-- only a spider web of supporters and initiatives that repeat ideas and retread funds. You know it, and I know it-- we can do better.

Today I ask you to join with me to make this blog what it will become, to make any ideas or words or thoughts you see here as much my creations as they are your own.

So welcome, my friends, to Our Common Concern... because our greatest resource is each other.