Equity calls us to listen, understand, respect, respond - Stebbins
Contact to support: klsteb2@qx.net
Amendment:
41 Equity. We declare that every person has the right to flourish with inherent dignity and
42 worthiness.
43 We covenant to use our time, wisdom, attention, and money to build and sustain fully
44 accessible and inclusive communities. [INSERT: Equity calls us to listen, understand, respect, and respond to one another.]
Clean version:
41 Equity. We declare that every person has the right to flourish with inherent dignity and
42 worthiness.
43 We covenant to use our time, wisdom, attention, and money to build and sustain fully
44 accessible and inclusive communities. Equity calls us to listen, understand, respect, and respond to one another.
Rationale:
This Amendment brings Equity - an important Value containing language from the 1st Principle - into line with the structure of other Values which have three sentences; Equity currently contains only two.
A 3rd sentence parallel to other Values can give a fuller description of how “every person” can be supported to “flourish” (1st sentence) within “communities” (2nd sentence): “Equity calls us to listen, understand, respect, and respond to one another.”
Equity calls us to listen and understand – because how can we hope to treat every person equitably if we don’t know “what size ladder they need in order to see over the wall”?
Equity calls us to respect – because how can every person have the “right to flourish” if their dignity is not respected?
Equity calls us not to ignore the fact that a person “can’t see over the wall,” but rather to respond to them - we may or may not actually be able to respond in a way that meets their need, but we can try to respond compassionately.
Equity calls us to do all of these things within community. So there still may be instances in which we have to ask someone to leave. We are “called,” not “forced” to listen, understand, respect and respond.
I personally believe that the more people are listened to, understood, respected, and responded to, the less divisive the world will become.
“Equity calls us” to do what we can.
This Amendment meets the Commission’s Charge to honor “the historic roots of our liberal, progressive faith” and be “powerful and relevant” moving forward, by ensuring the Equity Value befits the importance of the 1st Principle. It also follows the Commission’s Charge to be “brief” and “inspirational, memorable, and poetic.”