[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 103 (Monday, June 14, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E633-E634]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              GOOD TROUBLE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 14, 2021

  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Ananya Vel, an 
8th grade student from St. Bernadette School in Northborough, 
Massachusetts.
  Ananya recently won the Worcester County Bar Association's Annual Law 
Day Essay Contest which sought to honor Congressman John Lewis by 
asking: what does ``Good Trouble'' mean to you--today?
  John was a great man, but more importantly, he was a very good man. 
He was a champion for justice and equality who challenged the 
conscience of our country and called America to a higher standard.
  John believed in Good Trouble and that all of us must find the moral 
courage to get in the way and do something when we see something is 
wrong. I am humbled to have worked alongside him, and I know he would 
be proud of Ananya's words today.
  Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate Ananya and include in the 
Record her award-winning essay:

       On December first, 1955, what started out as an ordinary 
     evening in Montgomery Alabama, turned into something else. 
     When a 42-year old African American woman took a seat on a 
     bus and wouldn't give up her seat for a white man, she 
     started something. Some might say she started trouble. Others 
     might say she did something good, in standing up for herself. 
     But in that moment, that ordinary evening turned into a night 
     that would go down in history as the night Rosa Parks was 
     arrested for refusing to vacate her seat for a white 
     passenger. Which is why still others may say that she both 
     caused trouble, and did something good.
       The phrase, ``Good Trouble'' may seem like an oxymoron, 
     seeing as the two words have opposite definitions. The 
     dictionary defines the word ``good', as ``to be desired or 
     approved of and the word ``trouble'' as ``difficulty or 
     problems'' or ``public unrest or disorder.'' But if you look 
     deeper, beyond a combination of definitions and into the true 
     meaning, you'll see that ``Good Trouble'' is a lot more than 
     just an oxymoron.
       I believe, good trouble is knowing when to bend the rules, 
     and when to break them.

[[Page E634]]

     When trapped in a moral dilemma, it's choosing the ethical 
     choice over the lawful one. It's defining your principles and 
     sticking to them, no matter what. We all have a set of rules 
     in our heads that we follow based on what we think is right. 
     We all have lines that we draw to keep ourselves in check. 
     But too often, we break rules and cross lines in order to 
     dance to the tunes of others.
       Good trouble is a right choice, and a circumstance. In 
     America we have the right to speak our minds, but we also 
     have the choice to use that right. We will only have to make 
     that choice is the circumstance requires it. America has 
     counted on good trouble to get to where it is today. It has 
     brought about most change in our country. In 1920 women got 
     the right to vote thanks to the Nineteenth Amendment. If it 
     weren't for all the protests and rallies and brave people who 
     stood up for what they believed in, that may not have 
     happened.
       In the U.S Constitution, the First Amendment is freedom of 
     speech. It gives us the right to protest laws we feel are 
     unjust, and the right to speak up for ourselves. Good trouble 
     is making good use of this right and speaking out when the 
     necessity arises. Good trouble is also not abusing this right 
     and doing whatever you want. But oftentimes people get caught 
     up in the moment and escalate into violent mobs. When 
     peaceful protests tum into riots, the ``Good'' part of ``Good 
     Trouble'' is lost.
       Life is full of choices and sometimes there is not right or 
     wrong one. We make about thirty-five thousand decisions per 
     day, so making a choice is nothing new, but how do we know 
     when to choose good trouble? Follow your instinct, think 
     about things others may not, and heed your conscience when it 
     tells you something doesn't feel right. That doesn't mean you 
     can break any rules you don't feel like following. But there 
     are times where you should not just go along with everything. 
     Times when what you are doing feels wrong. These are the 
     times when you should fight back.
       Our lives are shaped by luck, risk, and circumstance. The 
     last one especially determines every decision we will ever 
     make. Good trouble is a situation we willingly put ourselves 
     in, seeking change. But you can only change what needs to be 
     changed, which means you shouldn't go out looking for 
     disorder. Good trouble only exists because circumstance has 
     demanded it.
       We all have thought in our heads that something is unfair 
     or unreasonable. But the question you must ask yourself is, 
     ``What have I done to change that?'' It's easy to think 
     something inside your head, but it takes courage to actually 
     do something about it. People like Rosa Parks and Martin 
     Luther King Jr. were people who were willing to sacrifice a 
     lot for what they believed in. But their efforts paid off 
     when segregation was outlawed in the United States. Good 
     trouble fits into our daily lives but it also fits into 
     activism. Like anything, good trouble has a spectrum and you 
     must ask yourself where're you fall on it. The bigger the 
     action, the more drastic the results. The more effort you put 
     in, the more change you will see.
       Sometimes there are moments when your conscience seems to 
     launch into a civil war. Good trouble is where the two sides 
     find common ground. It is the compromise between the devil 
     and the angel. Good trouble is knowing when to jump fences 
     and duck under barriers. But it's also knowing when not to. 
     ``Be the change you wish to see in the world,'' is a popular 
     quote that fits right in with the meaning of good trouble 
     today. The question isn't ``what's wrong?'' it's ``What are 
     you doing to fix it?''

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