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This week, we feature a guest post by Michael Whidden, founder of American Tributaries, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting experiential education travel within the United States for U.S. high schoolers through bridge-building itineraries.
Michael with his group of high school students at an outdoor dinner, on a historic Black-owned farm on one of the Charleston Sea Isles.
Michael writes…
We are constantly confronted by stories of acrimonious division and sclerotic dysfunction seizing our politics and civil discourse. While I believe media and politicians cherry-pick, exaggerate and distort these stories, it’s inarguable that we all feel the resultant emotions: anger, confusion and disenchantment. Hopelessness. Powerlessness.
Beyond the Politics of Contempt offers comprehensive yet practical insight…inspirational insight…into the situation, including a chapter about “finding your path” to help readers become part of the solution. To reclaim their power.
I have been on that path for ten years and would like to share my story so that others may appreciate the opportunities within our current situation.
I have been a registered Democrat since casting my first vote for Bill Clinton in 1992. Since then, I tried to stay politically aware, even helping a few presidential campaigns. But, as for many, it was in 2016 when I saw my politically-related emotions become vastly more vocalized and angry and – if I’m being honest – intolerant.
I recall strident and inflexible conversations. I recall making and sharing many dismissive and condescending social media posts. I started a Twitter burner account to more freely express my political anger. People who disagreed with me were simply ignorant and wrong.
Those feelings continued through 2019, becoming ever more rigid in 2020’s convulsions.
January 6, 2021 marked the nadir. A spiritual gut punch. A sickening jolt to the psyche. No more anger. I felt absolutely helpless and scared. Impotent.
Fast forward another five years.
It’s March 2026. I have my own not-for-profit, American Tributaries, joined by a talented and supportive board of advisors. We are dedicated to promoting American fellowship by organizing and funding domestic travel opportunities for U.S. high school students. This summer, we are planning our fourth trip from New York City to South Carolina.
To date, we have taken 18 students to the Palmetto State, a very different region, culturally, historically or politically. The students have learned about the diversity and humanity of people who they’d possibly otherwise reduce to a negative stereotype. I would count our many South Carolina hosts, regardless of political affiliation, as friends and inspirations.
In three years, we’ve raised almost $80,000 from more than 150 supporters. Last month, we received our biggest donation yet: $10,000.
As I look back on my American Tributaries journey, I see impulses percolating and taking shape…then retreating…then reemerging and weaving together with other impulses. There is no plan to be replicated. But there is some advice I can share:
Don’t give up on your idea. Hold on to it. Tenaciously. Think it over. Let it settle. Pick it up again. Let it take shape. Let it reshape.
Be sensitive to little ideas that gnaw at you. Because those can be the grains of sand that become the essence…the pearl…of your initiative.
Talk to everyone you know and trust and respect about your idea. Talk to people they know who may be able to help. Cold call as many subject matter experts as possible. Some will assuredly respond. Perhaps more than you think.
Keep a journal about your idea.
Stop wearing ear buds so you can have time alone with your thoughts.
Don’t be afraid to ignore advice, but also have the courage to incorporate advice.
Be patient. This will take time. Don’t quit your day job yet. You may never be able to, but if you get your idea off the ground, you will have made a difference.
Be persistent. Work at night instead of watching television or scrolling social media. Use gaps in your day to email, call, read, write. Those hours build up.
Be pleasant. This idea is important to you. You will find supporters. But don’t forget that others have their own responsibilities and concerns and battles. They may not give you the assistance you want when you want it, if at all.
Don’t be afraid to do something unique. The problem of polarization is so big and manifold and multifaceted that it requires countless solutions, coming at different times from different angles with different levels of intensity from different people.
Be comfortable being uncomfortable. To do something new for you…and perhaps new for your community if not the country itself…you will have to be willing to expose yourself to new and potentially uncomfortable situations and experiences.
Allow yourself to change as you go through this journey.
Take that first step. Then the next step. Then another. And another.
And I will restate the obvious because it’s so important: not only will you be positively impacting others, you will be positively transforming yourself.
Start your journey. There is no script. Just start taking those steps. You will be seizing control to influence what you can. You will no longer feel helpless.
You will see positive possibilities.
You will feel optimistic.
You will feel empowered.
You will be empowered.
For more information about the organization, visit www.AmericanTributaries.com
I love this story and the work Michael is undertaking. One comment: I only see 3, maybe 4 boys. This is often the case when I see stories of young people taking actions of all kinds to make the world a better place. Let's all make it a point to actively engage with young men/boys in this work, too.