Weavers

Did you catch this article in the New York Times? A Nation of Weavers.

This picture depicts "weavers" those who connect with others and create deep connections among people
Weavers

In the article, the author, David Brooks, a sociologists, describes our national tendency for disconnection. We live the American Dream of individualism, but that individualism means that we can also suffer alone, grieve alone, and feel alone.

Enter the “weavers”. “This problem is being solved by people around the country, at the local level, who are building community and weaving the social fabric.”

“Weavers share an ethos that puts relationship over self. We are born into relationships, and the measure of our life is in the quality of our relationships. We precedes me.”

Who do you know?

Beautiful. Do you know any? They make up the Global Health world –I joyfully worked alongside of amazing community health workers and peer educators who know everyone in their community and who care deeply about making their community a better place for all.

May we know them. May we be them.

I’d love to connect with you! Reach out on LinkedIn or connect today!

I start with the pain. A couple times a week I give a speech somewhere in the country about social isolation and social fragmentation. Very often a parent comes up to me afterward and says, “My daughter took her life when she was 14.” Or, “My son died of an overdose when he was 20.”

Their eyes flood with tears. I don’t know what to say. I squeeze a shoulder just to try to be present with them, but the crying does not stop. As it turns to weeping they rush out of the auditorium and I am left with my own futility. What can I say to these parents? What can I say to the parents still around who don’t yet know they may soon become those parents?

This kind of pain is an epidemic in our society. When you cover the sociology beat as I do, you see other kinds of pain. The African-American woman in Greenville who is indignant because young black kids in her neighborhood face injustice just as gross as she did in 1953. The college student in the Midwest who is convinced that she is the only one haunted by compulsive thoughts about her own worthlessness. The Trump-supporting small-business man in Louisiana who silently clenches his fists in rage as guests at a dinner party disparage his whole way of life.

These different kinds of pain share a common thread: our lack of healthy connection to each other, our inability to see the full dignity of each other, and the resulting culture of fear, distrust, tribalism, shaming and strife.

On Dec. 7, 1941, countless Americans saw that their nation was in peril and walked into recruiting stations. We don’t have anything as dramatic as Pearl Harbor, but when 47,000 Americans kill themselves every year and 72,000 more die from drug addiction, isn’t that a silent Pearl Harbor? When the basic norms of decency, civility and truthfulness are under threat, isn’t that a silent Pearl Harbor? Aren’t we all called at moments like these to do something extra?

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