Category Archives: Civic Engagement

When we are attacked, with words, fits, automatic weapons or bombs, we need to defend ourselves. Ordinarily I’m a peacenik and my first response to an attack is to search for a resolution to the conflict or try to mediate. But one has to survive to engage with the attacker for that strategy to work. Sometimes a rigorous defense followed by a counter attack is necessary. There has been much debate since the Feb. 14th Florida high school shooting concerning both prevention and immediate emergency response. Turning schools into barricaded, armed fortresses is a plan that marks one end of the spectrum. Establishing better mental health monitoring (pro, con) and restorative justice systems holds down the other end.

This morning I came across this suggestion: Arming schools with buckets of rocks in each classroom. While this idea may seem ludicrous at first it deserves a second look before we abandon it. Here are some pros and cons that have occurred to me.

Pros

• Being hit by rocks may actually work to deter a shooter. At the very least it will be distracting
• The defenders have a non-leathal action to take
• Keeping rocks around is less dangerous than keeping guns
• Confronting an attacker provides the threatened with a sense of effectiveness
• Every child can throw a rock, some may even hit a disarming or disabling target
• Rock throwers can surround the shooter increasing the likelihood of taking him/her down.

Cons

• To be in a position to throw a rock exposes the thrower to the shooter
• The thrower has to be relatively close to the shooter to be effective
• One bucket of rocks is probably not enough
• The rocks are still potential weapons that violent students could use against each other or school faculty or staff.

My thoughts are certainly not the last word on this subject and I’d like to hear what you think about it. My purpose in writing this blog is to explore radical and unusual ideas so please have at it.

In Response to: Headfake by Jake Fuentes on Medium.com

Once those of us who are outraged by President Trump have come home from our demonstrations, what do we do next?

View at Medium.com

Listen to those you disagree with. They will say much that saddens and angers you. Keep listening. Ask them to say more about the concepts that distress you most. Don’t argue, don’t rebut, don’t press your own case. Keep listening until they begin to bring common values and interests to the surface. Connect with these. Build a bridge to the other founded on such commonalities as love of family, desire for comfort, fear of the unknown or of change. Let the conflicts fall away in the presence of mutuality. Demonstrate trustworthiness and willingness to see that person’s vulnerability without rubbing his/her nose in it. Doing this takes immense patience and the strength not to give in to your own fear.

In many, many cases you will discover that the people you thought were stupid, irrational, evil, are simply afraid for the safety and prosperity of their loved ones, just as you are. They envision a different path to goals that are very much in line with yours.

Very few people want to destroy the planet we live on, raise their children in violent neighborhoods, lose hope for their own futures. True psychopaths are quite rare. But most of us are afraid that the other doesn’t care about us. You have to start by actually caring in the face of blatant disagreement.

Once you have established a quiet, trusting dialog you can begin to listen to the reasoning that has led your conversational partner along his/her chosen path. Basic differences in beliefs about human nature, religious tenets, happenings in the natural world, events of history will emerge between you. Sometimes you will have to agree to disagree. At other times one of you may discover that he or she is holding inconsistent beliefs and values s/he may want to reconsider. New ideas may come up that one or the other of you has never considered before. Remember that this is a time for discovery, not persuasion. You are listening and learning. Don’t offer your own perspective unless asked. The strongest, most lasting changes are the ones a person generates from within, not force by external pressure.

If your listening orgy has been successful, if you can be trusted not to attack or threaten, it is very likely that your former opponent may begin to ask for your point of view. You have demonstrated your interest in how they feel and how they view their actions. You’ve created a safe space for them to explore how you came to your very different conclusions. In other words, how could you have become such a stupid, irrational, evil person?

This process may not result in a change of political party but many other positive outcomes are likely. You’ve established a dialog that can be used for collaboration on apolitical issues and actions such as neighborhood clean up, food-sharing or babysitting. You know where the hot spots of disagreement are and can avoid them in social encounters. You know where deep fears and insecurities lie and can sympathize or possibly relieve some of them. You can now probably engage in civilized political debate without deterioration into attack and name calling because you understand what leads your opponent to his/her position. You will know when to stand fast and when to compromise.

And, should there be any real enemies left, you will know who is seriously dangerous and whom you can tolerate.

Most of governing is a huge void. You can fill that void by exercising your rights and opportunities to control. If you don’t, someone else will, often someone with whom you don’t agree. Elected officials can’t represent the people if the people can’t articulate what they want. Most people have no conscious idea of how they govern themselves, their families, neighborhoods, cities, counties, states, not to mention national governments. Understanding your own values and perspectives at a deep level is key.

Even more importantly, voters rarely realize that the actual governing is done at the regulatory and enforcement levels, not the law-making level. Those regulatory and enforcement positions are not elected, they’re appointed or hired and there aren’t enough people willing to occupy those spots. Sitting in meetings, reading and writing regulations to be carried out by police, tax collectors, social workers and front desk jockeys and the like – that’s all seriously boring work.

It’s also where the political rubber meets the road. So while the public is enthralled with billion-dollar campaigns for elected office and arguing about which official will view their particular beef favorably, those who wield the real power are introducing themselves to the office staff. “I’d like to volunteer for Committee X or Commission Y.” “I’m available for your next opening as a writer or an analyst.” Public opinion about the use of police
body cameras really doesn’t matter if the cop doesn’t turn it on or its batteries happen to be dead.

We are so focused on “government for the people” that we overlook “government by the people“. At the same time that we are complaining about what they — the wealthy, powerful 1% — are doing to us — the 99% —  we are declining to engage in actual governing actions. We occupy ourselves with fictional entertainment and ignore the internal but contradictory values that inform our personal actions and choices.

We equate voting with performing our “civic duty”. We think “government of the people” can be done by making more and more state and federal laws instead of by being mindful of the billions of small action decisions we collectively make on a daily basis.

Huge Void. Even Greater Opportunity. Will you choose to sit by and consume passive entertainment while “they-government” takes decisions and actions that anger you to the point of violence? Or will you invest yourself in “we-governing”, owning the process, examining your own deep commitments and values, analyzing how these can be manifested in the world and translating your positions into policy statements, white papers, rules, regulations, committee participation and community oversight? You are the engine of government, not its victim.