“Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.” – Mother Therese of Lisieux, The Little Way.
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I’ve always believed in the Little Way, Mother Teresa’s idea that small acts of great kindness do more good than all the deep thinkers on the planet. I have been offered a chance to try this out again when needed.
” Spread love where you go,” said Mother Teresa. We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” Those lines have inspired every good thing I’ve done. I might be getting another chance.
More than a decade ago, when I was writing for Wired Magazine and Rolling Stone, I was invited to a midwestern college to speak for a few months on the growing schism between teachers, geeks, techs, and gamers. They were growing rapidly apart, and I was asked to see if we could close the gap.
I never forgot the experience.
The talks and meetings were fascinating and surprisingly successful. The techs showed the teachers what their new world was like, and the teachers taught the techs and geeks how to live in a confusing world.
This time, the school is asking me to meet weekly digitally with a wide range of young people: Arab-American and Jewish students, Republican and Democratic students, MAGA people, Trump people, and liberal people.
This is not about fighting; it’s about listening. If necessary, I can be the host and referee. Each will be given a false name, and no meetings will be recorded or archived. I will not know their true identities.
No political agendas are permitted; it’s just about the honest sharing of ideas and the challenging experiment of getting people to talk to one another.
I was wary at first. It seemed like a volatile, tricky group, and I was too busy as it was.
Maria thought it was a terrific idea. Listening is the answer; small acts of decency and empathy are the key. The dean kept pushing me, and I melted. I told myself it was right up my alley; I think it is.
It will either be impossible, or if, as I believe, we can reach the human being behind the passions, it might be beneficial. I suspect these kids have a lot in common; they just don’t know it.
I don’t know if it can be done; I can only try. I love the challenge. I may learn something I can pass along to others.
Even if it just helps the students, it will at least help the students. That would be reward enough. I have no illusions about saving the country.
The meeting is just an honest exchange of ideas and a challenging experiment in getting people to talk to one another. No one is joining in pushing an agenda.
I know people I like on both sides of the whirlwind, and I don’t care to judge any of them. Like many others, I am thinking of new ways to connect with others in this divided world, which is long overdue.
I’m changing my mind about accepting because I have been offered a role that might work for me in this whirlwind and do some good, however small, to others.
The solution to the country’s ugly mess will be achieved by small people doing small good, just like Mother Terese, not by billionaires or politicians.
People have to make up their minds about what’s happening, and I don’t tell other people what to do or hate them for doing things I wouldn’t do and don’t like. I lean on my continuing spiritual work to try and become the human I want to be. Hating people and living in anger and fear don’t fit in.
I have trouble with self-righteous people who think they always know what is right and everyone else is wrong.
The dean who came up with the idea has assured me that the groups are not about judging, hating, yelling at, or diminishing one another. These people are in their 20s and early 30s, and it’s their future, not mine. They are eager to do better, I was told. They were all assigned to read some of my writing. They liked it. (I have an ego, too, of course.)
It’s a fascinating experiment. My love for our country made it possible. Being a neighbor means something, something I never really saw in the big cities I lived in.
I believe in listening to one another.
My spiritual work may help since it humbled me and made me realize that I know little about anything. I go into any gathering reminding myself that everyone involved knows more than I do. It works. My time at Quaker Meetings has helped me to learn how to listen.
The meetings will last an hour or so, four or five times a month.
I’ll let you know if sharing any part of it seems appropriate. I’ll leave that up to my students.
Thanks for coming into my space during this chaotic time. My wish to make the blog a safe place has taken shape. I’ll keep this new work to myself unless something amazing happens.
I love the idea of the blog being a safe place, a haven from madness. I love the idea of doing more good while I can.
I do go after the peckerheads once in a while, I need the exercise in defending myself and preserving some of my diminished privacy.
