An Aunt’s Letter to Her Activist Nephew

Yo, Steve-O . . .

Just finished reading the Bozeman Chronicle articles on ATR (A Thoughtful Revolution / Alternative to Rage) and am impressed by your movement’s mission to ease the town’s growing pains: cyclists fearful of cell-phoning drivers, Peach Street becoming the local speedway, the scary dawning of “Boze Angeles.” These days, you could toss a dart at a map and hit a burg where the newcomers, natives, long-timers, and everyone in between might benefit from a movement like yours—a hands-on effort to help the members of the new settlement find their common ground.

In fact, ATR has inspired me to name my door-opening movement here in the Cities: HIP (for Hold It, Please). As the name implies (and implores), its aim is to get people to hold doors for each other as they move about the marketplace. Based on a gesture easily performed by the average pedestrian, HIP transcends language barriers—if not all cultural and age-related norms. (My friend Lydia’s seventy-something dad recently advised her to let men do the door-opening; I’m looking forward to trying out my nascent HIP proselytizing tactics on him one of these days.)

Of course, ATR and HIP could be just the beginning. I’m solidly behind a PUT (Pick Up Trash) crusade to deal with the loathsomely littered urban landscape. And what about GAB, a Give-a-Brake effort designed to make tailgaters back off a bit? Maybe even a rally to cheer up those pinch-faced shoppers—the ones with the peace-and-love stickers plastered on the bumpers of their imports but themselves wearing Oscar de la Grouch faces as they navigate the aisles of Consumerville; the LYS (Lose Your Scowl) movement might help address that social scourge. These are all subsets of ATR, and the list of actions we might take to live more harmoniously with our city mates, old and new, is endless. We’re on the journey, regardless; might as well make it a copasetic trip.

So, neph . . . you take the ATR road in Bozeman, I’ll forge the HIP course here in the Cities, and let’s see if our small but concerted efforts can nudge our fellow citizens toward a renewed belief in each other and in that higher power known as Good Ol’ Decency.

Yours in the effort,
Anti P

P.S. If all else fails, there’s my standby Bernie Mac slogan—fit for tongue or bumper, and the perfect antidote to those bossy “Calm Down” stickers: Chillax!