"Civil disobedience" evokes a range of reactions when people hear the term. Some instinctively wince, regarding it as anti-social or subversive.

Others, like me, want to know more before we judge. What is prompting someone to engage in it? Who will be affected and how? What does the "disobedient" person hope to accomplish? Are there alternative actions that might be more effective?

One of my earliest memories from childhood was an act of civil disobedience. My family resided near Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, about 11 miles from the Ohio border town of Negley. At the time, Pennsylvania prohibited the unauthorized introduction and sale of milk from Ohio. On many a Saturday in the late 1950s and early 1960s, my father and I would drive over to Negley and fill the back seat of our car with good, cheap milk. During the drive back home, he would caution me to "keep it covered and don't say anything if the cops pull us over."

For me, milk smuggling was a thrill ride. It wa