I'm thinking about democracy today. Mainly because tomorrow is election day in Kenya. When I first started planning my trip to Kenya, my friend Victor warned me against coming in March. He didn't know if I would be safe from the violence that has plagued Kenyan elections. Wait, he warned me. Like people all over the world, I am waiting to see what happens in Kenya tomorrow and how people there respond.
Unitarian Universalists have a principle that says we promote and affirm "the use of the democratic process within our congrega- tions and in society at large." It's a bigger, more challenging statement than we can every know. Democratic process is hard.
It doesn't necessarily mean one person/one vote. There are very few moments in which all of the voters in a country or an institution are asked to vote. Rather we delegate our vote to our elected officials be they presidents, senators, mayors or boards. I have seen many people in congregations struggle with the idea that a good decision can be made without their presence in the room.
But that is not the biggest challenge. The biggest challenge arises when we lose the vote. Do we really believe in the democratic process then? Do we have faith in the wisdom of the process? Can we be gracious and supportive? More and more, lately, we cannot. What the Kenyans are experiencing is not so different than what I see around me. Violence is not always physical. We can wreak havoc upon the mind, society, our fundamental relationships. What if we saw losing as an opportunity to grow?
Unitarian Universalists have a principle that says we promote and affirm "the use of the democratic process within our congrega- tions and in society at large." It's a bigger, more challenging statement than we can every know. Democratic process is hard.
It doesn't necessarily mean one person/one vote. There are very few moments in which all of the voters in a country or an institution are asked to vote. Rather we delegate our vote to our elected officials be they presidents, senators, mayors or boards. I have seen many people in congregations struggle with the idea that a good decision can be made without their presence in the room.
But that is not the biggest challenge. The biggest challenge arises when we lose the vote. Do we really believe in the democratic process then? Do we have faith in the wisdom of the process? Can we be gracious and supportive? More and more, lately, we cannot. What the Kenyans are experiencing is not so different than what I see around me. Violence is not always physical. We can wreak havoc upon the mind, society, our fundamental relationships. What if we saw losing as an opportunity to grow?
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