Details first:

Potluck (and AGM): It’s a potluck and the AGM this Sunday. If you are planning to bring something to share, think “lunch” not “dinner” and you’ll be on track. Plan to stay if you can, whether you bring something for the potluck or not. Once we tuck into our lunch, we’ll get on with the AGM. And a reminder – the “not usually on the agenda” item this year is a review of the newly drafted bylaws, which can be found here. We will also cover the usual matters pertaining to our operations. It might not be the most scintillating stuff, but if we value what we have as a community it is essential that we tend to it. I can’t tell you exactly how long that will take, but I can promise you we won’t drag it out.

Kids Table is ON! And it’ll be followed by food, which tends to be almost universal good news in kid-land.

The Talky Bit: This week I made myself watch an entire video of the dominions national police force behaving in ways that looked like armed invasion. The violence wasn’t overt, or at least not egregiously so. It was veiled – the helicopters hovered rather than firing missiles, the dogs were kept on their leashes, the assault rifles stayed slung around shoulders. But it was force just the same, and it made me alternately feel like screaming and throwing up. Strong feelings, for sure. It also stirred awe in me for the protestors who continued to hold the path of non-violent methods. I don’t know if I could have done the same, given the deep hurts, long standing failures and systemic authority structures at play. It’s so complicated…

I realize that anything I can write or say about such a contentious situation will show my bias. That bothers me a bit, because I don’t want to contribute to the growing movements of intractable partisanship that seem to be such a strong theme both in Canada and around the world.  I also don’t want to be blandly disingenuous in the interest of not ruffling any feathers. I want to be part of growing something better.

There’s a song we sometimes sing at The Table, one stanza of which says this:

If we want a garden
We’re gonna have to sow the seed
Plant a little happiness
Let the roots run deep
If it’s love that we give
Then it’s love that we reap
If we want a garden
We’re gonna have to sow the seed

This week in the Talky Bit, I want to use the time you entrust me with to consider how we might prepare the ground to grow something better. It won’t be a panacea for all the ills of the world, but it might help us look at the complexity with different eyes, and engage it with a more hopeful heart.

I’ll see you on Sunday.

Peace,

Tim Plett