Weaving People Into Communities

Over the last quarter century, a thing has happened where the people who are most affected by problems are becoming least engaged in solving them. Whether in government, healthcare, education, community development, homelessness or many other areas, we have become fixated with “experts” and have denied the power of people to solve the problems that affect them most. I think we need to focus on weaving people into communities.

Weaving people into the places they live, work, shop, recreate, worship, relax, socialize and more seems intuitive and easy. In these times of competing interests, apparently self-consumed people don’t respond to calls for connectedness and bonding.

I don’t believe the average person is self-consumed at all; instead, we’re all just trying to do the best we can with what we have. Our electronic devices might offer the most accessible relief from our daily stresses, our overeating might dilute the suffering of daily trauma exhaustion, and our fixations with football or clothes might supplant the love we didn’t receive as children. Whether its the media, politicians, tele-evangelists, faceless Internet trolls or our loud brother-in-laws, so many of the forces around us are seemingly committed to pulling apart the threads that have bound us together in the “inescapable web of mutuality” that Dr. King implored we recognize.

Meantime, the apparatuses of democratic engagement like voting, political office and letters to the editor are all increasingly demeaned or even frowned upon by people who are devoid of investment in our democratic society. Nonprofits trying to solve serious social issues are mired in obfuscation, keeping their “research-driven interventions” or shady philanthropic visions at the forefront of their practice instead of engaging their constituents directly. Public schools are no better, and despite their roles as the crucibles of democracy, they routinely exclude, preclude and simply deny the shear necessity of engaging students and partners as equitable partners in learning, teaching and leadership. Government agencies at the local, state and federal levels are about as clear as the smoggy Pacific Northwest skies during wildfire season.

However, none of that makes the absence of our engagement acceptable.

I’m not looking for tokenistic public stage decorations either. I’m talking about 100% genuine, bonafide equitable partnerships, the kind that balance each person’s intentions with their abilities to contribute, making adjustments as necessary along the course and even moving the goalposts when neccesary.

Practically speaking, this may take many forms that evolve and transform over time. More power to you if you want to focus on voting, contacting elected officials, being active in political organizations, debating issues, supporting causes, and participating in rallies. But if you want to really weave and bring together disparate voices, you might need to step out of the typical and towards modern and engaging actions, including…

Friendly, personable and human conversations
Hosting a neighborhood picnic in your backyard
Posting about democracy and engagement on TikTok
Holding an open forum on an issue that matters to you
Starting a Facebook group for democratic activities in your community

Other ways to weave community include joining groups, volunteering to serve others, protesting, nonviolent civil disobedience, and boycotting.

Whatever your avenue is, its important that we consider all the possibilities for weaving community. Only then can we live into, sustain and all of us truly benefit from the promise of transformative lives. There can’t be a higher goal.