Soul of a Citizen by Paul Loeb: Living with Conviction in Challenging Times - Book Report/Review Example

Loeb tries to convey that most Americans are thoughtful, caring and generous and those traits normally extend to immediate family members and to friends. Some help can also be extended to strangers on the highway, stranded by a roadside breakdown and to some people on the streets asking for alms. But too often we put walls between our private sanctuaries and the outside world; forgetting that public participation is the core of democratic citizenship. Being able to identify the pressing issues the country is facing today isn’t enough for us to give ourselves a tap on the shoulder for a job well-done or enough for us to be able to regain our political voice.

Psychologists say that retreating from social involvement due to the thinking “all is well with the world” is called learned helplessness. This challenging term depicts that we shouldn’t fall in the trap the society has made an excuse ourselves from civic engagements with the reason “others can do it better.” That thinking helped us create this very difficult situation we are all in. We should stop excusing ourselves from due to the let-down we receive from our leaders; instead, we should get involved in shaping a more generous common future.

Although it doesn’t still give us guarantees, it is the only thing way that would give us hope.