Posting on behalf of Kim Rosenberg loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com
Since we moved here I’ve heard different stories about this “Club Manzanita”.
I worry more about the exclusionary language and the hateful rhetoric this creates than I worry about our water bill or city hall.
Some people call for civility but only extend that civility to the people who agree with them, not to the people who work here or volunteer for Council or are city staff or play golf or once worked at Nike or own a vacation home or live here full time and have a different opinion. There are so many ways to be excluded.
Civility doesn’t mean being quiet about the things we don’t agree on. Civility means remembering that the people with whom you disagree are…people and deserve the same respect we all want. Exclusionary rhetoric that splits communities into US and THEM doesn’t belong here. It doesn’t belong anywhere and it’s a tool used by angry people who didn’t get what they wanted but can’t let it go. That’s where we are in Manzanita and where we are in the United States.
When a public figure—a politician, a community leader—uses the rhetoric of US and THEM to divide a community they aren’t acting in the interest of the community. They’re acting to divide. They’re acting to sow fear, hate and division and it’s a tool used by people with grudges who are angry about the past. And when someone in a position of power or public trust abuses that trust and breaks the rules, I believe that the public has a right and an obligation to know the facts.
We don’t live in the past. The past is over. The address of life is the present moment, and we create our future in the now. Every time we gossip about things we don’t know are true, we create our future. Every time we lie, we create our future.
You can be civil and stand up for what you believe in—think the late greats John Lewis and Ruth Bader Ginzburg.
If Manzanita is a club, who are the members?
If you pick up trash on the beach and around town, are you a member?
If you deliver Meals on Wheels in the community, are you a member?
Are you a member if you make sandwiches for kids in the community during the summer break?
Are you a member if you sit on a board or volunteer at the Pine Grove, the Hoffman or EVCNB?
Clubs are exclusive and you have to be a member. Teams are inclusive and anyone can join. I say we create a TEAM Manzanita and a new future together.
Kim Rosenberg loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com