During the month of July at UUCG, we will be considering “the gift of democracy and compassion.”
It feels eerie to me, in some respects, to ponder the gift of democracy at a time in our own country where the foundations of our democratic republic are being called into question, even gaslighted, by a large (enough) portion of our citizenry. On the other hand, could there be any better time than now to dive into this subject?
Most of the reflections here in July will be reposts from the past year’s consideration of our various gifts. Perhaps we can re-read those with this question of the gift of democracy and compassion in mind.
For this brief reflection, I must say that adding “compassion” to the consideration is a game changer for me. By almost everyone’s measure, democracy is messy. For example, we are proud of saying that our government is “of the people, by the people and for the people,” and yet, too many of our elections are determined by a tiny margin. If a candidate is elected by 51% of those voting (and only 25-40% of eligible voters actually voted) to what degree is this candidate a representative of the people, selected by the people? And how committed will that candidate be “for all the people?” That’s just one example of the messiness of democracy.
Why bother with a system that is so messy? The one word answer has to be compassion. When all the power resides in one person, or in a small group of people, the chances of all people getting what they need to survive and thrive (that’s justice) are very slim. When the power is held by people democratically elected, the chances are better (not at all perfect) that the needs of the people will be heard and met. Why democracy? Compassion. And so many more questions flood my mind.
I wonder what these issues call up inside of us. Lets dive in.
~Bob Patrick
