By the time I was 14, my friends and I thought we had figured out something very basic about the American political system and reduced our insight to a very simple slogan: What difference does it make?
We repeated our mantra so often we encoded our cynicism to the number of syllables in that phrase and applied it to almost everything that came up: 1-3-1-1-1.
Irving, Larry, Art, me and whoever else was hanging out at night under the street lights on summer nights would philosophize about the adult world we saw and try to figure out how we could possibly change it.
It seemed an impossible dream. It was the mid-1950s, an age of conformity when millions of families like our own were joining the middle class and taking the deal society was offering, a house in suburbia, a car and a television set.
We were all idealists as only the young can be. We knew somehow there must be more to life but we didn't know what. We felt a lot like Holden Caulfield in the "Catcher in the
1-3-1-1-1, what difference does it make, was our escape hatch from the demands of parents, teachers and a society that expected us to learn the rules and obey without questioning.
Remembrance of that time in my life came up yesterday as I was thinking about what I would say at the Coro Foundation banquet where I was receiving a Lifetime Civic Achievement Award. Actress Geena Davis, Sheriff Lee Baca and entrepreneur John Steiny were among the other honorees.
I never got an award of any note before and never thought very much of that sort of thing, never thought I was doing anything but the job I was paid to do. But I realized it did mean a lot.
It was a recognition from a prestigious group that has provided leadership training to thousands of bright young people that what we achieved at the Daily News over the last two decades had a positive impact on L.A., that our aggressive coverage of City Hall and the schools had raised public awareness and at least planted the seeds of a more democratic society.
And so as my pal Rick Orlov, the Daily News' great political reporter, introduced me I realized I wasn't a failed idealist anymore, that I truly believed that it does make a difference what we do as individuals and as groups.
When I was growing up THE BOMB hung over everything, bomb shelters, air raid drills at school, warning siren tests in every community, emergency tests on radio and TV. It seems so quaint today in a world where nuclear weapons and hatred and poverty have proliferated and unimaginable environmental catastrophes occur with such regularity.
If ever the time is ripe for people to look up from their narrow preoccupations and self-interest, it has to be now.
I talked to several of the young Coro Fellows who have spent the last nine months in leadership training, interning with business leaders, government officials and community activists and felt the intensity of their passion to make this world a better place.
And that's the point I think. It is time for us to seek more than a 4,000-square-foot house and a Lexus and a 50-inch plasma screen. Greed is not enough. We need to restore our own youthful idealism and seek to be part of something greater than ourselves. We need to do it now - before it's too late.
So I've got a new slogan now: It Makes A Difference, 1-1-1-3.
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Yeah! 1 (sure does) 113 !
I think it is being a real person, it is about caring and taking responsibility. It matters a great deal.
The award was a big "thank you" for caring, for making a difference and you earned it. T.
Slogans are crap. Either you have an issue, easily explained, to rally around or you have a leader to rally around.
1-3-1-1-1, how about 1-1-3-1
One, two, buckle my shoe.
Gosh, I thought EVERY kid and buddies did that!
My friends and I belonged to the SSOSB all because a Chicago policeman called us sassy brats. There was an ad on the el station that showed a policeman waving at somebody and the artist did a lousy job on his hand - it looked like an open fist. So we named the fingers SSOSB
and whenever we wanted to make a point - we raised our fists and started laughing.
What did SSOSB stand for? Secret Society of Sassy Brats of course! T.
I hope Coro at least gave you the 50-inch plasma TV.
I detect a pattern of people who already have the house and Lexus asking those who don't to be less materialistic and self-centered.
That may be but if you are referring to the sassy brats, I feel obligated to tell you that experience occurred about 1935 in the heart of the GREAT DEPRESSION which was for real, not like the one-liner in your history book. It lasted from the big crash in 1929 to WWII. And the sassy brats were four young girls who lived near Washington Park on Chicago's South Side. People were not discouraged, we made jokes, ate six hot dogs for 4 people at Thanksgiving and all the other ways people make the best of things. And we were kind to one another which is why we reacted to the policeman. Yes, I am a great grandmother and am glad I am around to respond to nonsense when I hear it. Puh-lease!!!
Ron...as one idealist to another, I feel like a stranger in the city of my dreams. I keep asking myself how did things go so terribly awry? America, and in particular Los Angeles, has become a kleptocracy. We have imported the corrupt politics of Mexico to add fuel to the corrupt politics of the US. Together, it has created the explosive denouement of the democratic process intended by our founders when they drafted the Constitution and the Bill or Rights.
We are headed toward a One World Order...or one size fits all! We have lost our individuality. We are losing our freedom and our inalienable rights with each passing day. What does it mean to be an "American" in today's world? Nothing. We have gone from the 'melting pot' to balkanization. We will soon be known as the United States of the Americas...and if we balk at the prospect...we are called 'racists'.
I will never stop fighting for our inalienable rights...but it's becoming such a struggle!
Ron, you say greed is the issue---that too many people in L.A. do not and will not help society to improve because they are driven only by self-interest and greed.
I agree with that statement to some extent. However, you must know, you must have reported on, the other kind of people in L.A.
These L.A. people are not greedy; they are just trying to survive.
They are not well-connected, as you are, and they do not own homes, like you do. In the other kind of L.A. people show up at their jobs everyday and never ask themselves if they are happy or making a good step toward some 5-year-plan---they just work. They work, pay the bills, go out for fun occasionally, and try to stay out of trouble.
You think philisophically about this issue of being involved. Most people are not so philisophical--they are practical. They think, "Hmm, which is more important? Getting the laundry done or changing my neighborhood? Well, since our taxes are supposed to be paying to protect and improve our neighborhoods and no one is going to do the laundry if I don't, I guess I'd better do my laundry."
There is very little philosphy to most people's lives. There is only a preponderance of tasks that need to be done or else our little lives, which are hanging by a thread, will fall apart.
The kind of L.A. people you write about are the ones who actually read that ridiculous L.A. Magazine that comes in the Sunday paper. I have always thought that hi-style magazine is out of touch with the average L.A. working man or woman.
But those must be the L.A. people you are referencing in your post.
Congrats on your award.
(Written by spiffy who hasn't even done her 2007 taxes yet---one of those tasks that takes hours and must be done instead of volunteer work.)
Ron, you say greed is the issue---that too many people in L.A. do not and will not help society to improve because they are driven only by self-interest and greed.
I agree with that statement to some extent. However, you must know, you must have reported on, the other kind of people in L.A.
These L.A. people are not greedy; they are just trying to survive.
They are not well-connected, as you are, and they do not own homes, like you do. In the other kind of L.A. people show up at their jobs everyday and never ask themselves if they are happy or making a good step toward some 5-year-plan---they just work. They work, pay the bills, go out for fun occasionally, and try to stay out of trouble.
You think philosophically about this issue of being involved. Most people are not so philosophical--they are practical. They think, "Hmm, which is more important? Getting the laundry done or changing my neighborhood? Well, since our taxes are supposed to be paying to protect and improve our neighborhoods and no one is going to do the laundry if I don't, I guess I'd better do my laundry."
There is very little philosophy to most people's lives. There is only a preponderance of tasks that need to be done or else our little lives, which are hanging by a thread, will fall apart.
(Written by spiffy who hasn't even done her 2007 taxes yet---one of those tasks that takes hours and must be done instead of “making a difference.”)