The Messy and Meaningful Work of Civic Engagement

If you remember nothing else from this blog post, let it be that there are thousands of organizations and countless people across the country working to make the "American experiment" one that results in a place where everyone can be safe, healthy, and thriving - without exception. 

Mid-way through September, Stories Change Power has taken a trip with R.A.F.T. for America, hosted a Beyond Red & Blue webinar, and attended the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC).

During each, I found myself thinking about our country's past and our shared future. I think of the United States as a story: we have chapters, with certain events marking a new era, but all within one larger story. There's the notion of "turning the page," not in the sense that the past should be forgotten, but rather that we must keep moving forward even as earlier parts of our story continue to shape us, whether we acknowledge them or not.

If you read one article today, let it be David Eisner's insightful piece about America's "last civic low tide." I'm confident you will be surprised and inspired.

Across the country, many agree the murder of Charlie Kirk is the start of a new chapter. But as Utah Governor Spencer Cox noted, there's a question of whether this is “the end of a dark chapter” or “the beginning of a darker” one.

Many have praised and critiqued Kirk and praised and critiqued Gov. Cox's response. Frankly, I'm not going to do either. You don't need one more post saying anyone is ALL good or ALL bad, or any other right-wrong, on-off type approach.

Instead, I'm focused on just how much we need space to be MESSY.

Two days ago, I shared a framework for advocacy storytelling with nonprofits across DC as part of the Center for Nonprofit Advancement's training series. One participant asked a fabulous question about how to approach storytelling in writing versus storytelling in person. In writing, we have the chance to pour over every word, aiming to be meaningful, clear, and hopefully not misunderstood. Of course, we humans are not always careful in writing, as the constant flow of hastily posted vitriol on social media will attest.

In speaking, there's more space for emotion and, yes, misspeaking, but also more space for humanity. Conversations, done well, allow for "I'm not following," and "I'm not sure if that makes sense, let me try to explain a different way," and "I never thought of it that way." 

That may sound odd coming from someone who adores writing. But as I wrote in reflecting on time with R.A.F.T. for America, conversations are infrastructure. And as I'll share in upcoming reflections on NCoC, we urgently need to allow space for messiness along the way.

That's not to say talk is enough. Absolutely not. We need better conversations to lead to better actions, which is why it's been an honor to be part of the Citizen-Led Solutions team at Braver Angels. To learn more about the "Civic Renaissance" we want to support, make time to read these remarks from Braver Angels' new CEO Maury Giles. 

Like any non-fiction story, ours in the United States isn't neat and tidy. The next chapter won't be linear. It will be messy. Characters - those of us stepping up to develop our civic muscle and build civic resilience - won't be all good or all bad; we'll all be human, which is to say complicated and messy, too.

Along with the messiness, I firmly believe the work underway to shape our story can be meaningful. As we talk about in Citizen-Led Solutions, this work isn't just tinkering around the edges; this work is about change in our civic culture, change in the way we think of ourselves, and change in the way we treat each other.

In short, we need to move:

• From hatred → to trust

• From hopelessness → to agency

• From consumers of democracy → to co-creators

• From expert-driven → to citizen-led

• From a shrunken commons → to a vibrant civic life

These are major undertakings and I'm grateful to you for being part of the community doing the messy and meaningful work ahead.