I’m very concerned about the future of our republic, but what can I do? Yesterday I shared an article about paying attention to what we pay attention to. The fact that we’re not paying serious attention – talking face to face with people about serious issues, reading articles and books, taking time to think, working together to address issues – explains so much of today’s dysfunction.
“We must make attention itself the thing being taught. The implications of such a shift are vast. For two centuries, champions of liberal democracy have agreed that individual and collective freedom requires literacy. But as once-familiar calls for an informed citizenry give way to fears of informational saturation and perpetual distraction, literacy becomes less urgent than attensity, the capacity for attention. What democracy most needs now is an attentive citizenry – human beings capable of looking up from their screens, together.”
The authors, D. Graham Burnett, Alyssa Loh and Peter Schmidt, say this must start in classrooms. “The curriculum we have developed takes on a challenge that so many of us face: how to create, beyond the confines of our personalized digital universes, something resembling a shared world. It starts with experience, both individual and collective, with a focus on students’ self-conscious and self-aware experiences of reading, observing, reflecting and problem solving…. That means teachers and students, but also welders, surfers, anyone who does anything with care and immersive commitment, anyone who treasures true commitment.” (New York Times, November 27; A13).
Paying serious attention and collaborating with others to address issues is in the church’s wheelhouse. Loving our neighbor, doing good works, is also the worship of God. So, what can we do?