by Kathie MM
In my years of preparing and teaching seminars in Family Violence and the Psychology of War and Peace at Boston University, I learned a lot about moral disengagement (the kinds of thinking that allow people to tolerate and promote violent and inhumane behavior) and moral engagement (involvement in behavior that promotes humanity, peace, and justice, even when doing so is unpopular and costly). Most of you know the names of some of the best-known models of moral engagement—e.g., Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Theresa, Howard Zinn.
Rejoice! There are thousands of less well-known people who live lives of moral engagement. I bet you’ve encountered a few in your own life. One such individual I know is Lewis Randa , who will be leading a new Stonewalk on October 24, 2018. Under his leadership, volunteers will unearth a memorial stone for Victims of Violence at its present location at the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, MA, and pull it, using human power alone, on a caisson to the September 11th Labyrinth at Boston College.
Ideally, a democracy should encourage morally engaged leaders like Lewis to flourish, to inspire, and to promote positive change. To improve our own struggling democracy, more people need to engage morally in the task of finding and supporting reforms and reformers at the most basic political levels in their communities, while doing their best to evaluate the characters and commitments of politicians who have reached, by hook or by crook, higher office.
Moral engagement may not be common at the top, but it is not absent either. The good news is that to help make your community, your country, and the environment better, you don’t have to be a martyr, you don’t have to help pull the caisson from Sherborn to Boston (although that would certainly show engagement!), and you don’t have to be MLK. However, there are things you can do. How about getting together with other reform-minded people and searching for ways to encourage morally engaged leaders to run for office–and win? Meanwhile, you can help get out the vote November 6.
