Community Change

By Charles C. Weathers Sr.

The Weathers Group

ALF Waccamaw Region, Class IV

 

As I sat up last night watching the news with my 20-year-old son, I was moved to tears.  I’m tired, frustrated, angry, disappointed, and even a little lonely.

Buildings burning, tear gas in the air, heightened emotions, and chants for justice, in Minneapolis, Denver, New York, Phoenix, and Louisville.  On May 28, 2020, these were the scenes that came across my screen.  Not the History Channel replaying the 1960’s, this was the evening news.  These are the scenes in our communities today.

I woke up this morning and spoke with my mom, who in her mid 70s, with all calmness and clarity said, “It reminds me of the 60’s, nothing much has changed. I cried last night to. I cried because nothing much has changed.”

Senior Fellows, during one of our classes we studied the work of M. Scott Peck – The Four Stages of Community.

Anyone remember Stage 1? Pseudocommunity: Marked by conflict avoidance.  People are pleasant.  There’s an appearance of harmony, but it’s superficial.

I think pseudocommunities are ubiquitous in America – this is one of the reasons, nothing much has changed.  I think we all live in communities that are just one arrest, one gun shot, one injustice, one event from exploding.  We cannot sit back and wait for it to “happen here” – wherever here is for us.  We must be courageous, engaging, and intentional about helping our communities reach Stage 4 – True Community.

See, up until now, we’ve had these disruptive moments of awakening when we realize we’re in pseudocommunity. We move into chaos, at some point, things quiet down and then we revert back to pseudocommunity – until next time. We don’t reach true community because we don’t do the work of working through each stage.

I want to encourage you today, go back and look at the work of M. Scott Peck.  Consider how you can help drive real change in your community. What lessons did you learn that you can deploy, where you are, to help True Community emerge?

We know better. We must do better.  For a time, such as this.

I’m out.