Chickens and Social Leadership

So what do a few chickens have to do with Social Leadership?

In the past couple of months, the animal enforcement folks from my city have ticketed otherwise law-abiding neighbors of mine for having the audacity to raise hens in their own yards. The tickets are essentially a warning - they give a time limit in which to comply or they will forcibly remove them. I'm not kidding.

My Queen took up the call and began to talk to elected officials. This led us to city hall for a council meeting in which a few people were allowed to share their opinions on why it shouldn't be a concern to the city if folks have back-yard hens.

Anyway, how does Social Leadership fit into this picture? Prior to the city council meeting, my Queen and I sent out information to lots of friends and acquaintances, handed out stuff to neighbors, etc, and only a handful of them bothered to write to their councilmembers or show up at the meeting. There are a lot of explanations for this lack of incentive among us, but none of them really excuse us from taking a stand when things are wrong around us.

It's not about chickens - it's about standing up for what is right. It's about standing in support of other people who are sticking out their necks for what is right. Let's have a cheer for Social Leadership!

And in case you were wondering, none of the elected officials in the meeting believe we can take care of ourselves. They're in for a pretty big shock.

Give me a shout out for changing the world!