Like their son.

Six weeks ago, 15-year-old Nathan Ackerman left the family's Palehua Hale townhouse on Makakilo Drive to catch the school bus to Kapolei Middle School. It was a normal Monday morning.

Until 7:12 a.m., when Nathan Ackerman was struck by a pickup truck as he darted across a section of Makakilo Drive that doesn't have crosswalks. He was pronounced dead an hour later.

"We're not out there to glorify Nathan's name or any of that stuff," said Christopher Ackerman, a 32-year-old counterterrorism analyst at Schofield Barracks. "Truth be told, Nathan wasn't the first. We're there because we're extremely aware that the next time it will be somebody else's child."

The Ackermans provide just one example of how people can — and should — take action, get involved or just speak out for what they believe in. And often times these actions can result in change, though it's typically an uphill battle.

Despite the signs — and Nathan's death — many drivers still speed down Makakilo Drive, the Ackermans say. On Monday, one driver slowed down near the sign-wavers only to lean on his horn and speed off.

Nathan Ackerman, 15, was photographed with sister Kathrin just a week before he was struck and killed by a truck. Family photo

It's not uncommon for a tragedy to get people to take a stand or speak out.

Incidents of sexual abuse around Manoa prompted Tamara Teffeteller to organize a speak out and a rally last month.

"The purpose (of both events) was to stand in solidarity with the victims and give them a voice," said Teffeteller, 25, a graduate student in educational psychology at UH. "We had to get the message out that as a community, we wouldn't tolerate this. We can't just sit and do nothing about it."

Abuse, along with war and racism, have historically been topics of public debate. But today's busier-than-ever, 24-hour lifestyle makes it more challenging to participate in activities that demand the kind of time and energy most people don't have.

"People are really overwhelmed with the business of their lives and the challenges of making a living and keeping their families together that it doesn't leave a lot of time, especially in Hawai'i, to spend be involved in public affairs," said Noel Kent, ethnic studies professor at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa and activist since the '60s. "Yet we're seeing a real upsurge of people who are making the time, somehow, to really raise their voices in the public arena and be heard ... That is the lifeblood of any democracy."

Case in point: Earlier this month, about 75 protesters, many of them UH students, staged a seven-day occupation of acting UH President David McClain's office in opposition to a proposed Navy-affiliated research center at the university.

The sit-in got McClain's attention. He agreed to release documents and open up debate about the proposal.

"Most of us were moved by consciousness," said Ikaika Hussey, 27, a political science graduate student at UH who helped organize the protest. "You'll find that that's common with a lot of people. It's a basic concern and care for each other and our community. It's about taking that care to activism."

The protest, however, also sparked public support for the Navy proposal, particularly from those in the research and scientific fields.

Sandro Jube, a 30-year-old graduate student in molecular biosciences and bioengineering at UH, voiced his support in a letter to the editor. He says the proposed research center will be a great opportunity for UH and the state to become a center for high-level scientific research, putting Hawai'i on the map as a serious place for education, research and business.

"I really think people need to voice their opinion on the issues that they understand and that they feel strongly about," said Jube, who moved to Hawai'i from Brazil 10 years ago. "Things don't happen the way you want if you just stand by. Because when the decisions to which you don't agree are passed, you will have nobody to blame but yourself ... I know my support of UARC (the University Affiliated Research Center) will not be appreciated by most Native Hawaiian groups ... but I still believe that I have the right and the obligation to express my views."

Little participation

People tend to take notice — and speak out — when problems arise in their back yards.

Traffic congestion along Fort Weaver Road. Excessive speeding down Pali Highway. Motorcycle noise in Waikiki.

That's when residents turn out in droves at monthly neighborhood board meetings.

Despite being around for more than three decades, these meetings still only garner mediocre participation overall from residents.

"First of all, people are not even aware that there are neighborhood boards," said Maeda Timson, chairwoman of the Kapolei/Makakilo/Honokai Hale board, which attracts about 20 people to its monthly meetings. "We find that people only come out when there's an issue that intimately affects them within their community."

Most times, the show of support or opposition by the community at these meetings affects government decision-making.

A proposed high-density shopping mall on the Pupukea shoreline drew the largest crowd in recent memory to a North Shore Neighborhood Board meeting last year. More than 300 people packed into the John Kalili Surf Center in Hale'iwa to voice their concerns about traffic, increased water and energy consumption, and potential damage to marine resources.

The overwhelming opposition to the development prompted the neighborhood board, in support of the community, to recommend that additional studies be done on the project's environmental impact.

There's been no rumblings about the project since.

"The neighborhood board is advisory, and that's important to know," Timson said. "However, because we're part of the community and we represent the community ... we do have clout with government, and I think people don't realize that."

Determined to help

Betty Gearen has always done her part to protect the environment. She recycles, eats organic food and uses solar energy.

But after retiring as a high school art teacher and taking care of her two grandsons, Gearen decided she had to do more.

"The present situation of our environment is so alarming that the only way I could deal with my depression about it was to get active," said Gearen, 58. "Getting active has allowed me to have a more positive outlook on life."

Last April she began volunteering full time for the local chapter of the Sierra Club, an organization she had been a member of for 10 years.

Once a month, she organizes a sustainability-focused workshop that has soared in popularity. There were only a handful of people at the first one; the last session boasted about 70.

"This has changed my life," Gearen said. "The best part is meeting other people who are active. The energy that you gain by working with other like-minded people is tremendous."

Graduate student Ikaika Hussey, center, organized a seven-day occupation of acting UH President David McClain's office in opposition to a proposed Navy-affiliated research center at the university. Associated Press library photo

"One of the universal feelings (to get involved) is, 'If not me, then who?' " said chapter director Jeff Mikulina. "People want to take ownership in issues. It's therapy for some. They read the news, see what's happening and feel like they need to do something. That's what motivated me to get involved. I had this antsy feeling that I had to do something. I couldn't just sit on the sidelines."

That's exactly what happened to Bev Harbin.

A small-business owner for decades, Harbin was frustrated with legislation that made it difficult — and costly — to do business in the Islands. So last year she formed the Employers' Chamber of Commerce to be an advocate for small businesses on issues such as worker's compensation and healthcare insurance costs.

"I suffered as a small-business owner, and I saw that there was no consolidated voice for the small-business community," Harbin said. "I wanted to change the way things were done from a policy standpoint ... It's very easy to get defeated. But you have to keep plugging away. You're never going to get change if you have a defeatist attitude."

She's so devoted to fighting for small businesses that, in addition to spending countless hours at legislative hearings and sending out updates to her members, she rents a small apartment downtown just so she can be close to the State Capitol.

"If you don't get involved ... you'll experience exactly what we've experienced in the last 30 years, where the pendulum swings so far one way that the voice of a certain community is just eradicated," Harbin said. "That's the problem we're having right now, to try to get that voice back, so that there can be public debate. And that's a very difficult thing to do."