Many people characterize our generation for its general laziness and for our supposed lack of caring about what is happening in the world around us. Phrases like “clicktivism” stereotype people of the college age who act like they are passionate about various issues but show their support only by “clicking” like behind the screen of a computer. This comes with a lack of experience in going out into the public and seeing what issues people in our community view as important. A YouTube video seen by millions of college age people can influence them to support a cause for people living across the world, yet many of these same students at Wittenberg are also some of the first to hold pessimistic views of Springfield.
As a college student, I realized I wanted to do more than just support a simplified cause on a social media website. I also wanted to try and better the community I have chosen to be my home for the last couple of years instead of criticize it by pretending to be an outsider. It was this motivation that led me to volunteer my time for a local campaign. What seems like such a novel and archaic idea of going door-to-door for a particular candidate and talking to people in the community is something that really appealed to me, and Argeri Lagos helped give me that opportunity.
Lagos, 29, is a Republican running for State Representative for the 79th district of Ohio. I met Lagos after he came to Wittenberg, asking students if they wanted to be a part of his campaign by volunteering to go door-to-door. I was interested in not only gaining the experience to add to my resume, but also because it gave me a chance to meet people from all across Clark County. Lagos, who is a lifelong resident of Springfield and a graduate of Shawnee High School, cares deeply for his community. After getting his law degree from Capital University and his LLM in Tax Law from Boston University, Lagos came back to Springfield with the hope to better the community.
The number one issue for Lagos is jobs. As a tax lawyer and a real estate working out of downtown, Lagos entered politics because of an incident in which he tried to develop land for commercial use in Springfield. Due to government regulation, he was unable to do this, and thus many potential jobs and tax revenue for the community were lost. He wants to keep families in the area and believes the only way to honestly tell people that Clark County is a good place to live is by providing them with jobs they can live off of.
I agree with Lagos’ stance on how to help Springfield return to the great town it once was. As a member of the community for almost four years now, I can no longer pretend that I am not a part of Springfield. As someone who is interested in making the world a better place, I really do not believe that going on a social media site will make that happen. As more and more of the world sits behind their computer screens because they believe they are “too shy” or “don’t like talking to people in person,” they are only giving themselves excuses to not go out and be a part of the community. By going door-to-door campaigning in Springfield, I can go to sleep at night and feel good about myself for at least trying to make this adopted community of mine a better place, meeting my extended neighbors in the process.
