Kalamazoo Conversation Project
What misery is mine! I am like one who gathers summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster of grapes to eat, none of the early figs that I crave. The godly have been swept from the land; not one upright man remains. All men lie in wait to shed blood; each hunts his brother with a net. Both hands are skilled in doing evil; the ruler demands gifts, the judge accepts bribes, the powerful dictate what they desire- they all conspire together. The best of them is like a brier, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen has come, the day God visits you. Now is the time of their confusion. (Micah 7:1-4)
Wow, that’s a pretty depressing screed–and, unfortuately, all too true for many times and many places.
But let me tell you a small and perhaps encouraging story. Kalamazoo (my city) is about to vote on a civil rights ordinance. It’s most contraversial aspect is extending civil rights to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation. My wife was worried that the contraversy would lead Kalamazoo voters down a well-trod path of slogans and partisanship instead of civil discourse. So, she started the “Kalamazoo Conversation Project” along with a colleague, Erin Alderman, as an exercise in civil discourse. We met Tuesday night. People were provided a stop, caution, or go card to indicate how they planned to vote on the ordinance; and then they were paired off with someone with whom they disagreed. Conversational agreements (about listening and respectful dialog) were provided, and facilitators were there just in case they were needed. But in every case, and in every conversation (from our outside view; of course we didn’t eavesdrop), people listened well and told their reasons and stories. It was a relatively small group–just the right number for a first attempt at an untried concept–but they well represented a diversity of views on the ordinance. Order, not confusion reigned; and it was a sweet sight to see people able to disagree respectfully.
So, although I won’t deny the world is a sad and dangerous place, there are places and times when judges don’t take bribes and the powerful work on behalf of the less powerful; and the best of them are “sweet summer fruit,” not briars and thorn hedges.
