As showtime approached, a few hundred shoppers had gathered for the performance in a semicircle formed about ten feet from the stage and on the second-level balcony overlooking the stage. There was a really festive mood in the crowd, since the couple, Leon and Malia, were well-loved in Hawaii.

A minute or two before Leon and Malia were to come onstage, it happened. Someone on the second-level balcony dropped a box of popcorn. The box fell into the area between the downstairs audience and the stage. It hit, fell on its side, and some of the popcorn spilled out on the ground, messing up an otherwise clean area.

A hush fell over the crowd as hundreds of eyes focused on the intruding popcorn box. Though no one seemed to say anything, you could hear their thoughts. "Must have been a hippie." "Parents should watch their children more carefully." "Probably a tourist." The whole mood of the gathering was destroyed in a matter of seconds.

Without thinking, I performed an antisocial act. Stepping out of the downstairs crowd, I walked across the opening toward the stage, bent down, scooped the spilled popcorn into the box, and carried the box to a nearby trash can. Altogether, it probably took twenty to thirty seconds, but it was one of the longest hours of my life.

When I stood up with the box of popcorn, I found the entire audience staring at me. They continued staring all the way to the trash can, and when I returned to my son in the crowd, I found myself disowned. Quickly whispering, "Why did you do that?" Aaron moved away from me, pretending to be with someone else in the crowd.

All told, it was an embarrassing experience for both of us, and it troubled me for days. Essentially it came down to this: Why did I feel so bad for doing something good? I didnít expect to be carried through the shopping center on the shoulders of adoring followers. I didnít expect a good citizenship medal or even applause. But why did my simple act seem so unacceptable? That question was to stay with me and reappear.

Shortly after the Great Popcorn Caper, I found myself teaching a course in Social Problems at a University of Hawaii summer school session. Now summer school at the University of Hawaii is a mixed undertaking. Some of the students enroll in summer school in order to earn the credits needed to graduate early. Others use summer school to make up deficiencies from the regular school year. And some students from mainland universities find it intellectually imperative to pursue their studies in Honolulu during the summer.

Whatever their reasons, about fifty students chose to take Social Problems that summer. Since I had been expecting five or six students, I had to make a number of last-minute adjustments in the course. In particular, I decided to grade students on the basis of two multiple-choice exams instead of the term papers and essay exams I had originally planned. After the mid-term exam, however, I found myself with a problem.

Several students, unhappy with the grades they had gotten on the exam, asked if they could do any additional work in the course as a way of raising their grades. Several suggested writing term papers, and I said I would think about it.

As I considered the prospect of wading through piles of student prose on such uplifting topics as racism, war, rape, and mayhem, my support for the term paper solution dissolved. Instead, I began a discussion with the class regarding their motivations for taking a course in social problems. Quickly we decided that simply learning about the seamy side of society was a sick way to spend the summer. Ultimately, we concluded that the only justifiable purpose for learning about social problems would be to solve them. That laid the groundwork for the extra-credit course project that several hundred students in various courses were to undertake in the years to follow.

The extra-credit course project was simple enough to state: "Find a social problem and fix it." The assignment was so different from anything the students had been asked to do in a college course before that I found I had to spell out what would not qualify:

• No credit would be given for drawing my attention to a problem I might not be aware of.
• No credit would be given for finding out who was to blame for a particular problem.
• No credit would be given for bitching about how bad things are.
• No credit would be given for telling me what Weber, Durkheim, or other great sociologists would say about the problem.

I told them to find problems that were "social"ósomething that bothered others as well as themselves. And as a fortunate afterthought, I told them they couldnít get credit for solving problems they created. I told them about the Great Popcorn Caper as an example.

The remainder of that course in social problems provided the most rewarding experience in my career as a professor. Fifty students set out to fix the world, and fix it they did. The result was so moving to me that I have made it available in every course Iíve taught since then. By now, hundreds of students have reported to me on the projects theyíve done in connection with my courses. I want to share some of their experiences with you to demonstrate the variety of opportunities for heroism all around us today.

One young man chose to take on a problem that actually plagues most American cities today: potholes in the street. In his case, there was one particular pothole. It was located at an intersection near his home, and he said it had been there for as long as he could remember. Most of the residents of the area had gotten accustomed to swerving around it, and newcomers learned about it the hard way. Clearly, the pothole was not simply an annoyance but was downright dangerous. So my student decided to do something about it.

Impressing his brother into service, he stopped in at a hardware store located on the intersection to buy sand and cement. Once the store owner learned what the young men were planning to do, he loaned them a shovel and a concrete mixer, let them use his water, and threw in his own son as additional labor. The three young men started work.

As soon as they began filling in the pothole, several passing motorists parked their cars and began directing traffic around the workers. Then some passing children made up "Wet Concrete" signs to be arranged around the pothole once the work was done. Altogether, about twenty neighbors participated in the project. Together, they had handled a problem that had bothered them all for years. All it took was someone who was willing to step forward and be responsible for it happening.

Hereís a different example. One of my students explained to me that she was somewhat disappointed by college life. She had looked forward to making new friends at college and having a good time with them. Instead, she said, her dorm was simply a place where strangers slept. No one seemed to know anyone else, nor, for that matter, to care. While they might occasionally nod to one another in the hallways, that was it. My student felt that her disappointment was shared by others living in the dorm, and she set out to do something about it.

Her idea was to organize a dorm cookout. She prepared posters and sign-up sheets for the cookout and put them up in the bathrooms on each floor of the dorm. She said she felt kind of nervous and embarrassed about doing it, since nobody had put her in charge of the dormís social life; she also was afraid the other residents would think the idea was hokey. Three days later, nobody had signed up for the cookout.

What I like most about this story is that it puts the lie to our notion about the first step being the hardest in any undertaking. Actually, the second step is the hardest.

Since no one had signed up for the cookout, my student had every reason to drop the idea. She had tried, after all. She went to the trouble of making up the posters and sign-up sheets. If nobody wanted to have a social life in the dorm, that was too bad for them. The possibilities for self-righteous one-liners were endless. My student did something elseósomething absolutely heroic.

Stopping another girl in the hallway, she asked "Have you seen the cookout posters in the johns?" She had. "Iím the one who put them up. Donít you think it would be fun to all get together for a cookout? We can get to know each other, listen to some music, and just have a good time. Wouldnít that be fun?" Once the other girl admitted it sounded like a good idea, my student closed the deal: "Would you be willing to put your name on the signup sheet?" With one name on the signup sheet, she found someone else, enrolled her in the idea of the cookout, and got another name on the list. After she had personally enrolled four or five girls, the tide turned. People started signing up of their own accord. Soon, all the lists were full. My student was getting phone calls from people volunteering to bring records, stereos, and the like.

By the day of the cookout, most of the girls in the dorm already knew each other. They had a glorious time together, and before it was over, one girl had volunteered to organize an ice cream party, and another was organizing a taco party. My student could report that her dorm now operated like a large familyóit had become exactly what she had expected when she arrived at college.

Itís important to recognize that something more profound than college partying is involved in this example. Quite aside from the cookout and other parties, the quality of life in the dorm was profoundly altered: strangers had become family. Moreover, there is a good likelihood that the experience of being a large family would be passed on from student generation to generation in the dorm.

Itís also important to note that the transformation of dorm life was brought about by one personóa young woman with no special skills in community organization, no past history of such activities, and certainly no formal responsibility or authority in the matter. All she possessed was the willingness and courage to do the job.

Litter-Picking

Picking up litter seems to be the most obvious example of a social problem that my that my students can fix, and a large percentage of the projects report that activity. It usually comes about when a student finds a mess that he or she doesnít like, realizes that no one else is going to clean it up, and just handles it. Very often, they discover that itís not all right with the rest of the world for people to take personal responsibility for public things. Hereís a typical example.

Consider this project, somewhat similar to litter-picking:

Consider the experience of a student who got fed up with all the trash and beer bottles in the parking lot at a beach he frequented. He got out of his car and began picking up beer bottles and trash and throwing them in the rubbish can.

It takes courage to break with convention and assume a personal responsibility for having the world work the way you want it to work. You just never know how itís going to turn out. You may find yourself becoming a leader of a social movement, a hero of social reform; or you may find yourself simply looking silly. Thatís the risk, and itís not as trivial as it sounds when you are simply reading about it.

Letís look at some other situations in which students have found they can make a difference.

Neighborhood Problems

How many times have you been walking along the sidewalk and found your way challenged by a hydraulic sentry. I know youíve run into something like this sprinkler that a student reports was "sprinkling the lawn, the sidewalk, and the right lane of Dole Street." What do you do in a situation like that?

My student reports that pedestrians crossed to the other side of the street. Motorists swerved to the left lane to avoid getting drenched by the sprinkler. My student, on the other hand, simply moved the sprinkler. The problem was solved and life continued. 

Many are the hazards of walking along sidewalks. Once you make it past the sprinklers, you are confronted by the branches of overgrown trees and branches. One student suffered through this problem at the entrance to a cafeteria on campus until finally, tired of being slapped in the face, she decided to break off the worst branch. Two friends saw what she was doing and joined in. Working together, they quickly had the tree trimmed so that it didnít obstruct the walkway. When her friends thanked her for starting the job, she asked them why they had never done it. This is her report:

Hereís a different, though common, bush problem:

Sometimes you canít simply handle a problem by yourself. It may be necessary to get someone else to handle it. Often you must get someone else to do the job they are paid to do. Thus, numerous students report calling government officials to have trees and bushes trimmed, abandoned cars removed, and so forth. Often, simply placing a call to the right office will handle it. And just as often, it wonít. Sometimes you must be doggedly persistent.

One student who lives beside a golf course reported that the overgrown grass and weeds on the edges of the course often caught fire during dry spells, thereby endangering nearby homes. She decided to visit the groundskeeper at the course. She talked to him about the fire hazard. She offered to cut the grass and weeds herself if thatís what it would take. The groundskeeper said heíd do something, but he didnít. She returned. Still nothing happened. She returned with her father. She kept after the groundskeeper until he finally handled the problem, and the student now reports that the grass and weeds are kept cut. She says this of the experience: "I realize that the groundskeeper was aware of the problem because of the previous fires, and undoubtedly other people probably tried to get the areas cut, but I actually handled it. For this reason, I feel very pleased and proud." Sometimes my students have qualms about what they have done, though they are pretty sure they have acted appropriately. One found a problem where the traffic department was installing traffic lights.

If sprinklers and tree branches are an annoyance to pedestrians, highway obstructions can be downright dangerous. And the obstructions are many and varied.

The two-week-old kitten was saved. My student pulled her car to the side of the road, ran back, and got the kitten. Then, having no idea where it had come from, she gave it to her cousins who had just lost a kitten. Cousins and kitten were last reported doing well.

That kitten did better than others who wander onto the highway.

Some traffic obstructions are more of an annoyance than a danger. How many times have you found yourself trapped in traffic that is unaccountably inching forward? Eventually, you can see up ahead that your lane is merging into another, and thatís causing the slowdown. Finally, you reach the problem itself: a trash can lying in the middle of the lane, or a traffic cone thatís been knocked out of place, or a branch or board, or any of the other obstacles my students report. What do you do in such a situation? If you are like most people, you wait your turn in line and then, when you get a chance, you drive around the obstacle and continue on your way.

How about this situation? Have you ever been here? You are sitting in inchworm traffic, see your lane merging to the left, and eventually you realize thereís a stalled car in your lane causing the tie-up. What do you do? Usually, you wait your turn, pull around the stalled car, and continue on your way. Several students report stopping to push the stalled car to the side of the road. Not a big project, but itís big enough to restore the flow of traffic. The same can be said for those students who took the time to fix traffic signs that had been bent to point in the wrong directions, those who replanted signs that had been knocked down, and even those who called the traffic department to get action, got none, and called again and again until the job was done. With all the dragons slain and gone, thatís the stuff that modern heroism is about.

A common problem for bus riders is messy seats. Youíve probably gotten on a crowded bus and moved toward the unaccountably empty seatóonly to find a puddle of water or a melted candy bar on it. Usually passengers simply put up with such inconveniences, waiting for the bus company to clean the seatsówhich must be at least every two weeks. Several of my students have taken it upon themselves to wipe up the mess and make the seat usable. Although they generally try to do it inconspicuously, they tend to report people staring at them, and feeling embarrassed about their "good deed."

How many times have you gotten on a bus and noticed that someone had left something behind? Maybe youíve had an experience like that of this student, who noticed a purse lying on the seat across from her.

One student had a bus problem that dragged out through the whole semester we were together. In fact, he told me that the problem had been around for three years before that. Living in a remote, rural area, his mother was dependent on the bus for getting to work. Unfortunately, the bus often passed by early, and she would arrive at the bus stop to find herself stranded. My student asked if that constituted a social problem for the optional project. I said he could get extra credit, but only if he actually solved the problem.

A week later, my student reported that he had talked to the bus driver. "Was the problem solved?" I asked. The student admitted that the bus was still early sometimes. No credit.

Two weeks later, he proudly showed me the petition he had circulated among the bus passengers, demanding that the bus keep to its schedule and not pass by stops early. Nevertheless, the bus still came early at times. No credit.

Step by step, the student persisted. By the end of the semester, he had met with the county director of mass transportation and presented the petition. The director later discussed the matter with the president of the bus company, who called my student to report that he had discussed the matter with the drivers and ordered them to stick to their schedules. By the end of the semester, my student could report that the bus had not been early for a month and a half. Five points.

Bus stops can be as problematic as the buses themselves. Iíve never figured out who decides which stops get benches, but Iíve been aware all along who keeps them functioningónobody. Thus, one student noticed the concrete bench at his stop was covered with muddy footprints. Nobody could use it. Finally he got a bucket of water and scrubbed it clean.

Since the trash can was too heavy for my student, she went to a nearby filling station and asked an attendant to give her a hand. She reports that he reluctantly agreed. His reluctance increased when she suggested that they spray the can with insecticideóasking if he had any at the station. His reluctance gave way to panic when he sprayed insecticide into the trash can and was greeted by a massive swarm of bees.

Buses and bus stops may get messy, but they canít compare with public toilets when it comes to opportunities to make a difference in the world. Undoubtedly, our embarrassment over body wastes makes it worse. Itís bad enough to have people see you clean up a messy bus seat, but imagine how it would feel to do the same in a public toilet. Several of my students no longer have to imagine what it would be like.

Several students have found themselves waiting in line for a toilet, only to discover everyone avoiding one of the stalls. Usually, the problem is that the toilet is unflushed and looks generally disgusting. The problem can often be solved by someone simply flushing the offending toilet. But what an embarrassing thing to do! Itís no wonder that people stand in line rather than face that embarrassment. You have to admire someone whoís willing to overcome that embarrassment. But how many people do you know who will go to these lengths?

Dormitory bathrooms have other problems. Two have been reported as often as anything else. Wet counters are an annoyance; you can get your shirt wet just looking in the mirror. Several students report buying sponges and leaving them on the counteróand they report good results. Water on the floor, usually from flooded showers, is more than an annoyance; itís a hazard. Several students have unclogged drains, others have gotten janitors to do it. One student spread his newspaper on the floor to soak up the water. The janitor cleaned up the paper but didnít fix the drain. The next day, my student spread his paper out again. This continued several days until the janitor finally agreed to fix the shower. General cleaning, however, is the staple in this genre. In case youíd like to experiment with this one, hereís a checklist for you to follow:

Dormitory life has problems even when the toilets are working. If youíve ever lived in group quarters, youíll find some of these problems familiar. Communal kitchens arenít cleaned, lounge furniture gets messed up, and thereís noise, noise, noise.

There is no end to the variety of noises hassling dormitory residents. I loved this report and the way the student described handling it.

Another student faced the difficulty of taking and getting messages via communal telephones. Finally, she "decided to buy message pads for each telephone on my floor and also pens to go with the message pads." Cautiously she also left a note with each, asking the girls to leave the pads and pens by the phones. She reports the project worked fine. People are getting their messages now, and she concludes, "I see my pink message slips on a lot of doors."

Very often, dorm residents face the problem of all wanting to do something but each being afraid to be the first. Once one person steps forward, the rest follow. This student shared a bathroom with ten or twelve others, and she reports that each of them trucked their "towels, shampoo, conditioners, toothbrushes, toothpastes, soap, etc.) back and forth to the bathroom every time they used it.

The Opportunities Are Everywhere for Everyone

It should be clear by now that my students have had no trouble finding opportunities for heroism in the modern world. But donít let yourself slip into thinking this is just something for college students taking a sociology course. Over the years, most of the people I have described the project to have later reported to me about situations they found themselves in-óhere they were able to try out a little social responsibility to see how it worked.

From time to time, I receive letters from students who didnít do the project during the classóbut did so subsequently. For example, one of my summer school students, Maureen, later wrote to say, "Last September when I returned to teaching in St. Louis, my ësomebody should do something about thatí situation hit me in the face." The problem was parking. "You should have heard the grumbles every morning as people entered the building complaining about searching for a space in which to park!" Maureen decided to take on the problem.

She went first to the principal, who described all his past ineffective efforts to solve the problem. Next she discussed the situation with the union representative in the building, receiving more explanations of why nothing could be done about the problem. Undeterred, Maureen wrote to the president of the unionís local chapter. Her letter was forwarded to the superintendent of public schools, who ordered an investigation of the situation. As soon as the weather permitted, a portion of a huge school yard was paved, and the teachers were soon parking in a fenced parking lot. Maureen summarized her feelings. "Itís nice to know as a ëlittle personí I do count."