"Activist".

The National MS Society is deeply proud of our thousands of advocacy volunteers--all of them, including the people profiled in this issue. I think of them as activists, just as I think of myself as one. Before checking in my Webster's International this morning, I would have defined that word broadly. I'd have said it means taking responsibility for my own actions and making my opinions heard on public policy issues.

It turns out Webster's has an even broader way to look at it. Webster's defines the word in terms of two philosophical doctrines. First, activism means the belief that "the mind is active, not passive, in perception." Second, it says the activist believes "activity is creative or fundamental."

I can go with those two ideas, happily.

Life pitches all of us some steep curves. When I perceive the world around me, including the very bad things that happen, I believe I have choices about my reactions. My mind plays an active role in what I see and feel. I meet a lot of people with MS who tell me they believe the same thing. "I can't control what MS does, but I can control what I do about it." And I see from their accomplishments that they have acted on what they believe.

As for "activity is creative"--what else could be creative? Only action can bring about change. When we're up against an unfair health insurance regulation, or an inaccessible public building, or just plain ignorant prejudice about the abilities of people with disabilities, we need solutions, not hand-wringing.

To my mind, being an "activist" means taking personal responsibility and working with others. No one can give someone else a positive attitude. We each have to develop our own. At the same time, no one can create solutions to problems all alone. We need to work together--to communicate, form coalitions, and negotiate positions so we accommodate each other.

When we do those things, we can and do change what is.

Right now, the Society is calling on people to come out of the stands and onto advocacy's playing fields because, as Katherine Shaw puts it on page 21, "Democracy is not a spectator sport." In our pluralistic action-minded country, there will always be pros and cons, new challenges, losses, gains, wrongheaded proposals, and splendid new ideas.

I'm proud to be an activist in this field and to work with all of you.

Mike Dugan General, USAF, Ret. President and CEO