The Moderates Dive for Cover, Part 3

The meeting had gone on for a while when we reached the end of our review of the proposed changes. We were looking forward to hitting the freeways for home, even though the allotted time for the meeting was enough that we could have gone on for another hour.  Then something unusual happened. One of the meeting leaders said, "We want to make sure that everyone has had their say here. Some of you have talked to me in the hallways about this, and I've not heard your voices in this meeting. We want to make sure everyone's point of view is heard."

Some people, I later found out, groaned inwardly. Hadn't this gone on long enough? Wasn't he just inviting more critical comments or useless suggestions?  But it was at that moment that the meeting pivoted.  At that point the moderates finally entered the conversation. The tone of the comments--which came from new voices--was measured, thoughtful, cautious, and supportive. People were encouraged to speak to their representatives. People spoke up with love and commitment to the institution. People expressed respect for what the university was accomplishing.  People urged each other as representatives of their churches to disseminate correct information "out there" to counteract the critical speculation landing in their e-mail inboxes.

The meeting ended on a positive note with the sense that we may not all think alike, but we're devoted to the same mission. The voices indicated a general understanding that the changes underway were sensible and reasoned, rather than some quick sleight-of-hand to pull the university away from the purpose for which it was founded.

And I learned something new, seeing the case study unfolding right before me. This was not just about a church-related institution, but about our larger society.

As the world becomes more polarized, I realized, the moderates are indeed diving for cover. The conversation (as we hear it in the media) is full of screechers, gloaters, finger-pointers, speculators and squinty-eyed conspiracy theorists. And they have a great deal of influence, particularly as the moderate folk fall silent, not wanting to be part of a conversation that is shrill and lacking in gentility.

But we need the moderates in the conversation.  We need the moderates to stay moderate, to speak up with reason and to keep calling people to think, to respect the humanity in one another, to listen to the concerns, the rationale, the fears and the hopes in what the other person has to say. It is as the moderates stay in the conversation that we have a chance of keeping our two feet firmly planted on the ground, our eyes on the goal, and our circle large enough to minimize the us-versus-them mentality that becomes so limiting, and in some cases, so destructive. It is as the moderates stay in the conversation that we minimize the recent phenomena that are so unhealthy in our society: fear, and disdain.

It was a good reminder, seeing this meeting transformed by the entrance of the moderates:  We all need to commit to remaining in the conversation.