Deliberation

A Jan 6th column by NYTimes Clyde Haberman
calls for careful reflection as we move into our new administration. Haste in decision making has given us too many disasters, like the USA Patriot Act, to name a big one.
This is where we, the citizens, come in. We must come together for deliberation. Try something my husband I have done: "News Night." Every week we came together with friends to talk about something they had read in the news that week.
We all left those sessions having learned a lot from each other and having clarified our own views. But the most important thing was that brand new ideas emerged each week, ideas we would never have produced on our own. And most important of all, it was fun!

Obama and Conversation

In a recent New York Times article
a friend recalled some Obama advice when he visited New York after Obama was a student at Columbia.

"Mr. Ramos visited Mr. Obama in New York City in the early 1980s after Mr. Obama had graduated from Columbia University.

“I was just so blown away by New York, so intimidated,” Mr. Ramos recalled. “And he said to me, ‘Mike, don’t worry. New Yorkers are just like everybody else — they appreciate a kind gesture and a thoughtful response.’ ”

This just about sums it up! This is what should lie at the heart of all of our conversation: a kind gesture and a thoughtful response.
Those of us involved in social change should always remember this, or we just drive people away.

Democracy begins in conversation, John Dewey

At the heart of all social change is conversation. No matter what change you want, start talking about it! Talk to people on the street, talk to your neighbor, talk to the person next to you in the grocery line. Take a risk and start a discussion group. You can learn how here!