I asked this question at our public event at the Lincoln Theater in Mount Vernon last Thursday night: “How many of you are worried about the future of our democracy?”
Every hand went up.
They join 76% of the US population in this concern. But most people don’t have a sense of what we can do about it. They wonder if we have any power to make a difference.
We are being tempted to believe:
- We can’t live together with our differences.
- Our identity is defined by our political ideology.
- There is nothing we can do to build unity and strengthen our democracy.
Almost 100 people showed up at the Lincoln to reject these temptations.
We had speakers from many different backgrounds: Agnostic to Catholic, LGBTQ+ to formerly incarcerated, Lutheran to Muslim, Jewish to Pantheist, Bahá’í to Indigenous. They all shared their commitment to our common humanity – not in spite of their traditions and experiences, but because of them.
Lora, an Upper Skagit elder, shared a story about how the creator gave each tribe a unique language, yet also gave us the capacity to cooperate and respect each other. Tony, who works with youth affected by gang violence, talked about how much we need each other to help heal the harms we’ve done to one another. Keiko shared how Japanese-Americans whose families were incarcerated during WWII are now standing in solidarity with refugees held in detention at our border. Melanie shared a vision for our common humanity from her Bahá’í tradition. Layth told us that the Prophet Muhammad teaches that all the human family is related, that no one group is better than another. Father Paul talked about the Catholic social teaching of respect for the image of God in each person. Evie discussed the Jewish teaching of repairing the world. Maggie envisioned a world in which we bring out the best in each other and create the world we long for. Charis reminded us that everyone is our neighbor, without exception. Miranda shared her experience of working at Helping Hands Food Bank – unconditionally accepting people wherever they are in life.
This event showed the real diversity of culture, tradition, and identity in Skagit County. And it revealed something deeper: That we may have different visions of how to make the world a better place, and still honor, respect, and like one another.
We did this in public at our event last Thursday.
Everyone there lit a candle rather than curse the darkness.
As the event closed, there was a call to action. As I write this, I challenge you to find ways to act as well.
Individuals
- Tell the story of how Let’s Go Together is bringing people together
- Get to know your neighbors
- Do something kind for your neighbors
- Have a neighborhood picnic
- Say “Hello” or “Hola”
Groups
- Tell this hopeful story
- Speak well of others
- Invite other groups into partnership
- Support another organization in their work
- Host a Potluck for Democracy
We all have the power to strengthen our democracy. We all have the power to go into our future and into our community together. We are better together.