Wednesday, March 11

A Reflection from Stan Wilson

It’s possible to be political and tell the truth. 

That’s my modest attempt at a truthful sentence. We don’t have to lie in order to organize our common lives across disagreements and differences of power. We can tell the truth and be political. 

I’ve seen this happen in Circle of Mercy and other churches, when people try to speak the truth about what they want and need and trust that they will be heard. I’ve seen communities reach for and find “third ways” when they felt stuck in decisions and conflicting values. That is real politics, moreso than what we often witness from elected officials. 

When we were practicing one-on-on relational meetings a couple of years back, we were trying to help each other give voice to something we really want to do or to be. That’s really hard to do - to even figure out what you really want, much less to say it. Telling the truth without any mixture of deception is tricky and rare. 

And it can be deeply challenging: What do I want? What power do I have? What power am I hiding? What’s keeping me from being who I say I want to be? These are not easy questions. But I’ve seen you gently calling those kinds of questions out of each other for years.  

So, here’s an invitation: find someone who might take a walk with you. Ask them about something they want to do or be. Invite them to ask you the same questions. See if you can help each other discover something truthful about yourselves. 

In an age when powerful people tell lies, let’s not let them tell us what it means to be political. Peaceful politics are possible.