"The first job of the citizen is to keep your mouth open."
-- Günter Grass

Think about that and think of the countless peoples writing and speaking about life and what makes it livable. Watching the City Council meetings, I see the same few brave souls opening their mouths at every meeting. Folks, you have my attention and my thanks.

And the newspaper reporters who go beyond their jobs to dig deep and investigate to get the story in. And if the reality of truth shames the reader, I hope it leads said reader to open their mouths.

And all the ministers speaking out in various ways from various pulpits, "Tell the truth and shame the devil." Indeed, I'll stand up and salute to that.

I was at a birthday party for a dear, dear friend (Father Hogan, to be exact) celebrating his 70th on Sunday.

At my table the folk group from St. Margaret's Church. Concerned citizens in comfortable middle age and a decent living style.

I listened quietly and then not so quietly and then started throwing in my two bits. The topic of conversation: 911 calls. I had just had my own ridiculous, zany run-in with Schenectady's 911 four days ago and it matched up well with the Looney Tunes version of the gentleman seated at my right.

I had called to report a large-scale fight (about 15 people) on the corner of Craig and Emmett and instead of a simple forward exchange, "Hello, I'd like to report a fight on Craig and Emmett, about 15 people and someone is yelling that someone else has a gun." 911 is asking, "Who has a gun?" I explain that I am shepherding about 20 young children, trying to keep them safe and away from the fray.

911 replies that they "have to think of the safety of their officers." I respond with, "I need to think of the safety of the children, not to mention myself."

911 wants to know races and colors and sexes of participants. 911 wants to know house numbers. 911 wants to know what brawlers are doing. 911 actually wants descriptions of clothes and facial characteristics.

"This is not my job, I am not a police officer, I am an after-school program person." I hang up the phone, yelling at kids to "get over here now." 911 calls back. 911 gets nasty. "Don't hang up again," they say. I respond with, "There's one fight going on right now -- corner of Craig and Emmett. You'd have to be blind to miss it. It's right next to the corner store."

Police arrive, go the wrong way down the one-way street and miss it. Yup, they drive RIGHT BY the fight, "They drove by, they actually drove by."

911 tells me to chase the police cars down the street and point them in the right direction.

At this point, I turn off my phone. I talk to the pastor in the parking lot, who had also called 911. He had given up long before I did. Woody Allen would have loved it. A comedy of the absurd.

Now, my table partner did me one better. It was daylight hours (incidentally, he told us there were five stabbings on his street last week). He did his 911 song and dance. "Two males are beating up a woman," and was politely told that it would be at least 27 minutes before a police response. Outraged, he called the mayor's office, spoke to the mayor and got shuffled to his secretary. He even called Carl Olsen. No one was interested -- nobody seemed to think it was the least bit bizarre that the police could not answer a call about one woman being beaten up by two men for 27 minutes. He explained about the elderly Italian woman in her garden who was yelling at the buffoons in the street. No response. But wait, there was one response, "Stay in your house, close your blinds and keep your doors locked."

Full of bitterness, my tablemate wondered if the response would have had a better chance of immediacy if it was happening in the "Hill." I assured him, from personal experience, that it probably would not. The whole table then focused on the city's use of resources. Six of us at one table in unanimous declaration, "Too much on downtown, not enough on neighborhoods."

Remember the start of this blog? "The first job of the citizen is to keep your mouth open."

I would amend that slightly to, "The first job of the good, responsible or conscientious citizen is to keep your mouth open."

We all love to hear the good news, we take pride in showing off our hometown, but equally we should all love to hear ALL the news -- good and bad -- just to see how we can work to change things. And believe me, no matter how much we all speak and work together, there will always be more to do. Just like Sisyphus, we need to keep rolling that heavy stone up that big hill.

I close with a quote from "Writing to Change the World" by Mary Pipher.

"A writer's job is to tell stories that connect readers to all the people on Earth, to show these people, as the complicated human beings they really are, with histories, families, emotions and legitimate needs. We can replace one-dimensional stereotypes with multidimensional individuals with whom our readers can identify. In creating a world of I-thou relationships, writers can do much of the heavy lifting."

I add, "Not just writers but anyone who speaks for others more than themselves."

"Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find."

-- Matthew 22:10