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Theodore R. Johnson is a Post contributing columnist. Autumn McDonald is a New America senior fellow and the head of New America California.

In every corner of the country, gaggles of children have just wrapped up soccer season. And any parent whose child plays team sports knows how chaotic those games can be. They also know that, while winning and sportsmanship matter, the key to a good game is found at halftime and immediately after the final whistle. If there are orange slices for the little ones during the break in action, and excitement for the postgame goodies, everyone goes home happy.

To make this happen? Cue the team parents. They’re the ones who keep the league going. They communicate practice times and jersey colors. They arrange the snacks, accounting for allergies. And when that one parent — you know the one — is unreliable, selfish or overly critical, a team parent maintains team cohesion and restores good order. Despite no pay or official power, the team parent might be the game’s most valuable player.

Our larger society can feel chaotic, too. Inflation, polarization and gun violence. Homelessness and economic inequality, threats from abroad and demagogues within. This is before the overlay of political play, a game that includes our branches of government, laws and court opinions, charismatic figures and influential power brokers. It’s all shaped by the deeply ingrained tenets of the American Dream, which prizes individualism and often incentivizes players to prioritize their own glory. It’s a hyperpartisan environment that encourages division and a narrative that’s two parts “I did it my way” with a splash of “not my problem.”

What our society needs is the equivalent of team parents — civic intermediaries. We need people who see this larger society as a collective endeavor, who value fairness and principle over winning, who help everyone feel included and part of the team.

These intermediaries must be actively engaged, even when there is little or no self-benefit, because they know society is neither a solo endeavor nor led by silent observers. They must be discerning, problem-solving, critical thinkers. They should be inclined to get to know people, because they understand that being interested in — not just curious about — your neighbor is its own benefit; it’s what builds community. Folks would trust them — and well-functioning societies require trust.

But how do we encourage more people to play this role? In too many schools, civic education is anemic, reduced to some incomplete history and basic information about the structure of government. Children and adults alike must learn instead from the example of others — elders, neighbors, good Samaritans. And when they act with the goal of strengthening our social fabric, they become like society’s team parents.

What should we call them? The easy answer is just to label them good citizens. But that’s not it. Americans’ <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/07/02/what-makes-a-good-citizen-voting-paying-taxes-following-the-law-top-list/" target="_blank">concept of good citizenship</a> is too connected to rights and responsibilities — voting, paying taxes, obeying the law — as set by the government, not by and for each other. Besides, citizen has a particular legal meaning, and, given contentious debates over immigration and birthright citizenship, it’s a politically fraught term.

The Greeks captured some of it in the <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/civic-education/" target=_blank>concept of paideia</a>, a “formative and life-long process whose goal was for each person … to be an asset to his friends, to his family, and, most important, to the polis,” as the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defined it. We like that, but it’s a thing, not a person. And it’s far too unfamiliar to the American ear. No, this might be best represented by a newly created word.

We’ve been toying with civician. It’s a vessel with no age, racial or gender connotation and no legal status implication. It also has an appealing verb-i-ness: Like musician or physician or beautician, it evokes a practitioner, one who must stay engaged in the work to be known by it. A civician is a person who cares enough to ensure meals are brought to a grieving family, who tries to make trick-or-treating a little safer, who doesn’t stand idly by when intolerance and discrimination are directed at members of, or beyond, their community. And whose concern does not stop at the end of the block or extend only to people they know. A civician understands the truth confirmed by sociologists: that social trust is built not by exchanging favors, but by doing for others and expecting nothing in return.

Civicians — if we have enough of them — can be rehabilitative at a time when society needs repairing. That is, now.

An election year awaits that looks to be unlike anything the nation has seen. Our democracy and our shot at civic solidarity will be stringently tested. Ambitious politicians will clamor for the cameras to seize their piece of the moment. Complex geopolitical issues and social tensions will exacerbate existing conflicts and breed new ones, stressing the nation’s structures. Eyes will turn to the national stage seeking a transformative figure.

But our gaze should be cast closer to home. The green shoots of our better and more perfect Union are most promising in our communities. The soil is more fertile there, offering more opportunities for bonds to form and take root. Civicians in cities and states across the nation would work to bring those shoots into bloom and to one day bear fruit.

And as long as that fruit is cold, sliced, bagged and ready for those in the game, we can keep going. That’s the lesson of the team parent for a nation in need: Good people stepping up in good systems are the foundation of all well-functioning societies — not just the little ones where prosperity is measured in postgame snacks.

When the Stars Begin to Fall: Overcoming Racism and Renewing the Promise of America

Hampton University, BS in mathematics

Harvard University, ALM with a concentration in international relations

Northeastern University, doctorate of law and policy

Theodore R. Johnson, a contributing columnist for The Washington Post and retired naval officer, writes on issues of race, democracy, and American identity. He's the author of the forthcoming book "If We Are Brave" and 2021's "When the Stars Begin to Fall: Overcoming Racism and Renewing the Promise of America."

Theodore Johnson

Autumn McDonald

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In search of ‘civicians’ — the team parents of a healthy democracy

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