Published: December 15, 2007 08:37 pm            

Stephanie Salter: People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?

You yourself must make an effort. — the Buddhist Dhammapada, XX:276

Terre Haute — So, let’s see: Our nation is divided, our state isn’t exactly one-for-all, all-for-one, and deep fissures run through our city.

What a way to head into 2008. Don’t we have anything in common anymore?

Even the idiots among us can rattle off dozens of our differences. (In fact, the idiots among us tend to be especially good at that.) But who takes time to identify the similarities?

Healing the divisions in the nation is a pretty tall order, particularly if we haven’t attempted it on a personal or local level. So, I’m, wondering: Has a city or county ever sponsored a common ground campaign? Could Terre Haute?

You know, something like The Big Read that Vigo County and other places sign on to each year? Lots of people agree to read the same book so that, almost literally, they’re on the same page.

Is it possible to expand that idea, or do people pull together as a community only after big disasters and during a sports team’s winning season?

What might change if Terre Haute adopted a second motto to go with “A level above”? Better yet, what if our city credo — our guiding principle — were “Seeking common ground”?

(OK. Everybody get the catcalls and other rude comments out of the way now. You professors and journalists in the back there? Wipe the cynical sneer off your faces. You folks who mistrust anything a professor or media type says? Unlock your arms from across your chest and dangle your hands at your sides. It releases tension.)

As I was saying, what if this city credo were adopted, not only by local government, but by churches, civic and affinity organizations, schools, colleges and businesses? What if, instead of sticking a declarative sign in our window or a bumper sticker on our car — and then forgetting it — each of us signed an official pledge to be part of this experimental program? Something like:

At least once a day, no matter how busy, stressed or p.o.ed I might get, I promise to try to find common ground with a brother or sister Hautean.

To borrow a phrase from the California almond growers, all we’d ask is one a day.

In the winter of 2004, people from several organizations, including Indiana State University, made a noble attempt at something similar. Their two-sided, blue-and-white signs still hang in a few windows in the city. One side says, “Terre Haute United Against HATE RACISM PREJUDICE,” the other, “Terre Haute United For DIVERSITY TOLERANCE INCLUSION.”

Terre Haute United, and the signs, were a response to two awful incidents: arson at CANDLES Holocaust Museum and a racist attack on the home of a family in Sullivan County.

On a sub-freezing January day, about 100 people gathered in Dede Plaza at ISU then marched to the First Congregational Church on Ohio Street. One of the event’s key speakers was newly elected mayor Kevin Burke. He talked about the popular misconception that tolerance requires personal sacrifice.

“The only thing we have to give up is some of the love we have within us,” Burke said. “We will not defeat hate with violence. We will not defeat hate with hate. We will not defeat hate with adversity or conflict. We will defeat hate and change the image of Terre Haute when each one of us determine in our own lives that we will not participate in something as wrong as hate.”

Sigh.

Maybe this is why I’m proposing something a little different, not a response to a specific event that starts to fade for the community after the galvanizing incident has passed, but an ongoing practice that acknowledges and addresses our very common human frailties.

We all label. We all stereotype. We all generalize (see), we all assume, fill in the blanks with speculation and theory. We all pass along hearsay we can’t confirm. We all inflict our fear and frustration on total strangers — those who live in the next block, worship at a different church or temple, or sit in the adjoining lane at a stoplight.

We do this because we’re hopelessly human. But we can always mitigate, improve, soften the edges and lower the volume. As I mentioned, we can start small and try just once a day to find common ground instead of follow our knee-jerk routine of wallowing in the differences.

I’ll bet readers can think of hundreds of ways to find common ground (see related “Suggestion Box”), but here’s a hypothetical example.

That person at the stoplight? The one who cut in front of me going 50 mph in the 30-mph stretch of Third Street? In the midst of my curse-laden diatribe, I could stop to remind myself that Leadfoot and I share a common, aggravating condition: We’re both slaves to yo-yoing gasoline prices.

It’s a small thing, tiny in comparison to our vastly different driving styles, but acknowledging it could momentarily interrupt the mindless flow of anger and willful separation.

Such interruptions don’t threaten anything but our human tendency to hold grudges and one-dimensionalize our neighbors. That’s the kind of loss we all should want to celebrate — together.

Stephanie Salter can be reached at (812) 231-4229 or stephanie.salter@tribstar.com.



Suggestion Box

Hear ye, hear ye! This is a call to common ground. All it will cost you is time, either to e-mail, send a note or — if you absolutely must — phone with your short suggestions for finding what we share.

I’ll keep the “Suggestion Box” open until New Year’s Day and will publish as many submissions as possible shortly thereafter. Remember, any dummy can find the differences. Be brilliant, buck the trend.

I can be reached at stephanie.salter@tribstar.com, 222 S. Seventh St., Terre Haute, 47807, or (812) 231-4229.

— Stephanie Salter

        

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