Lately, I've been feeling the encouragement from the spirit to get more involved in community affairs. For most of my life, I have not been a political guy and preferred not to consume myself in it. However, after witnessing the 2008 presidential race, I've been a lot more motivated to get involved in community issues than before. Even though I'm a single voice, I feel like it's important to be aware and take a stand on political issues, especially when dealing with such hot topics such as sanctity of life, governmental spending, definition of marriage, etc. I felt a strong conviction that I wasn't "doing my part" either as a Christian or a citizen of the USA.

This revelation occurred to me during this past year's presidential race. Throughout the race, I was always eager to listen to radio talk shows about the candidates, read political blogs, and tune into all sorts of media outlets. I was experiencing information overload! I was never like this before! Honestly, I shied away from political talk shows and any thing politics related in the past. To me, it was a bunch of mumbo jumbo and I felt it didn't affect my life.

Now, I have a greater regard and appreciation for US politics as well as International politics. (Not gonna change careers or anything) From the presidential race, I actually identified with a candidate who I greatly appreciated and respected, Governor Mike Huckabee, who is also a devout Christian and former Pastor. I admire this guy so much for his valiant run for the White House! He was a total dark horse from the beginning, and almost received the Republican nomination. He campaigned with truth, honesty, deep compassion and conviction. In my opinion, he didn't get involved too much with mud-slinging political antics. During a business trip, I found out that he wrote a book. When I heard he wrote a book titled, Mike Huckabee - Do the Right Thing, it really piqued my interest! So, I bought the book from the airport and began reading it. If you haven't heard of his book, the basic premise he promotes throughout the book is the philosophy of "Vertical politics".

Huckabee illustrates how much our government is mostly about the debate between the Left and the Right, Liberal and Conversative, Democrat or Republican, etc. But, most Americans see things more on the Vertical scale - will we go up or down, better or worse - and care far more about childrens' future prosperity than about where they fall in the political spectrum.

He states, "Vertical thinking requires us to determine if things are better or worse. Hard-core horizontal thinkers usually determine better or worse by whether things are going left or right - if they're winning the game... true betterment can be more objectively determined on the vertical scale. It's objective. And it's practical. If fewer people are getting murdered, robbed, burglarized, or assaulted, I think it's safe to say that by anyone's standards, whether left or right, things are up."

What I learned from all this is to "get involved" with the community. This means to volunteer, to be proactive in community affairs, keep abreast of domestic as well as global issues, and express my opinions on issues I care about.

Sang Yoon
Community Group Coach