From an iACT (Interfaith Action of Central Texas) Presentation…

The Mining Pan Metaphor

Found this mining pan on a Colorado hiking trip several years ago. As soon as I saw it, I knew. I remember thinking, “ Wow! That’s my life. Until I patch a few holes, I’ll never be able to catch the nuggets of life. Only some dust, if the pan’s tilted the right way.” And that’s no way to live. I pledged to do a better job of focusing on patching the holes of mind, body and spirit…so I could better serve myself, my family, friends and community.

Our 2021 New Year Mining Pan Challenge

After a torturous 2020, we hoped for a rainbow break in our New Year. We’d finally be conquering Covid, we’d have a competent new Administration in Washington, and we’d be getting our economy back on track. Too Soon? Of course. Our setbacks have been so extreme over the past several years, that a clean slate to start 2021 was the impossible dream. We’ve got work to do, many holes to patch. Let’s identify a few. We The People have failed our institutions, so they’re failing us. But we can and must make amends, reconsider and reconstruct to better match needs with resources. That’s self-government. We almost had it taken away from us. Let’s not. But to keep it, we’ve got to earn it. Here are a few holes to patch:

—Pulling out all the stops to contain the Covid Pandemic

—Competent Government at every level

—International Diplomatic/Trade Relations

—An Accessible, Affordable Health Care System

—Public Education to meet the dynamics of social and technological change

—Job Training to equip our workforce for rapidly changing opportunities

—Race Relations, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and the Social Contract

—Social Justice and an updated trained and responsive Justice System

—Realistic Gun Reform (I’m a gun owner)

—Environmental Integrity, Immigration, Infrastructure, Etc.

So, What Do We Do Now?

Personally…Pledge to be well-informed. To know and better communicate with those who represent you at different levels of government. To choose one or two issues that resonate with you, dive in and become civically engaged. Pledge to give your time and resources as you’re able. Step up your game. Be a community role model for your family and friends. Step up to help moderate divisiveness, disinformation and hate speech wherever you find it. Your association with faith-based organizations and other non-profits can be most helpful as you work to leverage resources for good.

Political Parties…Both parties have spent so much time being partisan, expending too much energy on posturing and pandering…too little on platforms that pose solutions to critical non-partisan issues. A ripe opportunity for leaders, not labels…for courage and constructive action. We’ve had too many politicos from both sides cowardly hiding behind name-calling and the blame game, to avoid risking stepping out in the public arena with proposed solutions. If we want better, we must choose better.

Government at Every Level…Government has failed us because we haven’t expected and worked for better. Now we’ve reaped because we forgot to sow. Our “leaders” have chosen to focus on hot-button issues to keep their base and the media stirred up, rather than do the work and compromise necessary to effectively address complex needs in education, economic opportunity, healthcare, social justice, etc. We can only bob and weave and avoid the mirror for so long. That reckoning is now. We’ve got holes to patch. Together.

Building/Re-Building Trust In Each Other

A healthy community is built on truth and trust and shared experience. That only happens when we reach out to include and welcome all members of the community. We have to know and trust each other before we can commit to the harder work of problem solving and inclusive community building. Austin’s iACT’s “Red Bench”program has done a wonderful job of convening casual dinners to enable a diversity of folks from all backgrounds to get to know each other in a comfortable setting. Muslims, Buddhists and Baptists have allowed this West Texas backsliding Methodist to join them in wonderfully revealing conversations. Community building at its best.

The past few years of heated political rhetoric, divisiveness and fear-mongering have left us distrustful of “others.” Too many have withdrawn to the perceived safety of ideology and tribe, diluting the opportunity to build healthy diverse communities. You and I have the opportunity to improve that potential. It’s not too late for a last-minute resolution to bring more diversity into your circle. To reach out to those who don’t look like you, get to know them as Covid-relief allows, and consider them as you help your affiliated organizations to better represent the diversity of the constituents they serve.

IN CLOSING

There are too many angry, disillusioned and hopeless individuals reflecting failures of business, government and institutions at many levels. A runaway pandemic has been the poisonous icing on this unappetizing cake. We are being seriously tested, but we Americans are resourceful and eminently capable of a major course correction, if we summon the courage, character, heart and work ethic to do so. I have confidence in us. To be the catalysts for constructive change. Let’s do it! TOGETHER.