When I read

last week that the petitions to recall the Fayette County

commissioners had been dismissed by our local elections

board because one of the sponsors, Carl Avrit, had also

acted as notary on the documents, I was dismayed and a

little disappointed.

Disappointed, not because I

have any hope that they will be successful, but because

the "process" will not be played out now

because of a technicality.

My initial instinct was to

admonish Carl for failing to carefully scrutinize the

governing document offered along with the recall

applications. That mindset lasted about a day, at which

time I reckoned that participatory government is a little

like walking out on a wire without a net, both for the

elected men and women in whom we place our trust and for

the citizen voters who are the guardians of that trust.

Two weeks spent slogging

through the Georgia Ethics in Government Act seeking

clarification over an individual citizen's right to

attempt to sway voter opinion in an upcoming election

taught me post-haste that responsible citizenry and

active participation can be a foreboding experience. Yet,

for all that it can be an intimidating process, it is a

privilege and a died-for right in our republic.

It was then that I

admonished myself for judging the mistakes of others,

when I should have been applauding their willingness to

enter the fray. To be fair, we should revere those brave

enough to serve in public office, too. That can't be an

easy undertaking, and is one that most of us cannot

fathom.

The older I get and the

more I participate, the more I view our process as a

sacred trust. What we have here in Fayette- a host of

diverse ideas and people, an educated and thriving

populace, and yet an old fashioned home town climate

reminiscent of times long past-is not some fluke, it is

When I read of

neighborhoods opposing high voltage power lines, or

groups who oppose taxation or annexation, or groups who

lobby for a SPLOST to build more schools, I am inspired

to do my part.

I am repeatedly humbled by

the caliber of letters that I read in the paper. In fact,

it was one of the first distinctions that I noted about

Fayette County when I moved here a little less than three

years ago. I am amazed at the lengths to which people

will go to research an issue and look beyond the surface

for the obscure, but often profoundly pertinent

"story behind the story." I am equally awed by

the level of activism, volunteerism, and charitable

endeavors regularly performed in Fayette.

Even if we don't all have

opinions about all of the issues facing the public today,

and especially when we do and they don't agree, it is a

privilege to live in a community where an active and

informed citizenry provide the grist in the government

mill. The water that spills over the wheel and turns the

great stones are the laws of the land and the founding

documents. The end product is the way that we live.

We are the conveyers of a

legacy. What has been given to us, we must give to those

after us. I used to think that protesters were

complainers and people whose only interest was to

represent their own views, but the very act of speaking

out is the fulfillment of an obligation to be guardians

of the public trust.

We are the checks and

balances. We are the people. We are the government. If we

don't like where we're headed, then we should take a

different path.

Those who fail to

participate are destined to have their views defined by

others. Those who are active participants, even if they

occasionally stumble in the process, are those who dearly

appreciate what we have here in Fayette, and believe that

we have something here worth preserving.