Earlier this week, our Daily Post editor, Bill Hudson, introduced one of his editorials about the PLPOA gymnasium controversy with this quote, attributed to noted American anthropologist Margaret Mead, who passed away in 1978:
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
The website QuoteInvestigator.com could find no evidence that Margaret Mead actually wrote or spoke these words, as perceptive as they may sound. And we have to ask ourselves, does this sound like something an anthropologist would actually say? In my experience, most of the things written or spoken by anthropologists are comprehensible only by other anthropologists.
The QI website suggests that this quote first appeared in the 1982 book Earth at Omega: Passage to Planetization, written by Donald Keys but attributed to Ms. Mead. That’s the great thing about quoting someone who has passed away. They can’t correct you.
And who knows, maybe Margaret Mead did say it… when she was drunk, at a cocktail party in Philadelphia? People say lots of things they don’t even remember saying, when they’re drunk. (Ask me how I know.)
My interest in the quotation, however, has nothing to do with who said it, or didn’t say it. Whoever it was, they said something that strikes me as profound.
Yes, I am easily moved by profundity, perhaps more easily than a doctor would recommend. But humor me, for the sake of argument.
I came across a photo dating back about six years ago, of a small group of committed citizens.
These guys had just passed the 2018 Tax Cuts, without a single vote from the Democrats in Congress. The tax cuts didn’t affect me directly, because I earn such a meager salary, I never have to pay taxes. (My accountant can verify this.) But the tax cuts did benefit the people in the photo above, by way of massive campaign contributions when they ran for re-election.
It also changed the world. Or at least, it changed the U.S. Because when this tax cut bill was passed in 2018, the federal debt was $26.89 trillion.
Now, thanks to the fact that corporations and rich people hardly pay any taxes, the federal debt is $35.46 trillion.
Which is some kind of change, by a small group.
Margaret Mead never said that the change had to be a good change. She only said that committed citizen could change the world.
Also, she used the word “committed”. Which can be taken to mean, “assigned to a lunatic asylum.”
Another small group worthy of mention: NOW. The National Organization for Women. When 12-year-old Maria Pepe was kicked off her Little League team for the crime of being female — after pitching three games for her team — NOW took the issue to court, and ultimately, the New Jersey Superior Court (another small, thoughtful group) decided that Little League Baseball must allow girls to play. (Later that same year, President Gerald Ford signed a federal law that officially opened Little League Baseball to girls.)
Apparently, she was one hell of a pitcher, and that got her in trouble with parents on an opposing team.
We’re still arguing about who can play on which sports teams — the ever-thoughtful and committed U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Tuesday prohibiting trans individuals from playing on the wrong team — but at least we settled the Little League question, thanks to Maria Pepe. Incidentally, the New York Yankees (another small, thoughtful group) publicly backed Pepe, inviting her and her family to a game and making her an honorary “Yankee for a Day”.
And I think there’s yet another small group of committed citizens, worth mentioning. The Rolling Stones.
That’s a photo of the group when they were still in their 20s. The group has gone through some personnel changes since then, and also gotten a lot older-looking. (Haven’t we all?) But 50 years later, they are still selling concert tickets… although their 2024 tour was sponsored by AARP.
Who can forget the Stones’ timeless advice? “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.
That message has been my guiding North Star ever since I first heard the song. My college roommate Tim Buckles had picked up the ‘Let It Bleed’ album at a thrift store and we stayed up all night listening to it. I distinctly remember that it was slightly scratched, and the first chorus by the London Bach Choir kept repeating until you bumped the needle.
We were pretty stoned that night. Which was appropriate, since, after all, these were the Stones. A small group of thoughtful, committed citizens.
You can’t always get what you want. But if you’re thoughtful and committed, and small… you get what you need.
Or, alternatively, you can be overweight and wearing a MAGA hat.