“Watching activists jump into action is really exciting,” my partner John Dancey said as we left the All Island Forum planning meeting. I knew John meant seeing our colleagues step up with enthusiasm to take on the tasks necessary to put on our next forum. But the question “What action?” playfully jumped into my mind.
It seemed to me that focusing our efforts on careful, thoughtful action (what others might see as “non-action”) was the group’s biggest accomplishment as we approach the next forum that will explore community engagement.
Earlier we had chosen to decline one Island group’s proposal that AIF create a very targeted “issue-specific” forum. As a result I wondered if we were choosing “non-action?” Or were we building from our mutual recognition that respectful communication and community capacity building are higher priority ingredients right now for the work that lies ahead?
The spring planning group, a current version of the dynamic citizen involvement that created the evolving force of AIF, including John Runyan, Mary Shackelford, Doug Dolstad, Terry Sullivan, Amy Wolff, John Dancey, Kathy Ostrom and myself, had vigorous discussions. We decided on a topic that follows intuitively from our February forum on “What Really Matters?” to active Islanders. This will mean a forum that offers experiences that further enhance our abilities and skills rather than tackling a single problem.
For me, a natural-born doer, the work of “sitting tight” to develop skills around inquiry, listening, relating, interacting and learning did not scratch my itch for immediate action at first. But as I sat with others, hearing what was true for them, I discovered the heartbeat of my own sense of things. Truthfully, even speaking up in a public meeting for me, prior to AIF, was an alien concept. However, something about the way we work in all of our All Island Forum meetings invites my participation.
For those who partake of AIF’s forums, plenty of activity is built into the design of the meeting. We are asked to participate in physical ways, for example, to place ourselves in the room according to demographics, to write our answers to pithy questions on big pieces of paper, to actively share our ideas in small groups and then to make collective meaning of what we generate.
The upcoming forum, “Vashon Islanders: Where, How and Why Do You Serve Your Community? A Deeper Look and More Learning” has the intention to expand our community’s capacity to enter dialogue and learn from our experience with one another. We planners feel this deepening of inquiry and mutual understanding will help strengthen our community’s foundation when we do take on specific issue forums in the future that require tough decision making and complicated action steps.
Choosing this level of patience and process can be challenging for a doer like me. Yet the care taken at AIF to include all voices inspires my faith in humanity. How is it that my voice can really matter in a large public gathering? And even further, that my voice can actually be heard and responded to with respect and appreciation?
Curiosity is the core quality that fuels this next forum. How often do we sit down and talk to each other to consider and sharpen our community service? What keeps us going when participating becomes frustrating or despairing? What would lead us to have better and more satisfying experiences as we contribute? And ultimately, what roles do each of us really want to have in caring/acting upon the well-being of our Island community?
This forum is about strengthening connection and collaboration among diverse community members, especially as we face many complex challenges in the months and years ahead. During last February’s forum we mined, “What Really Matters?” Now, we want to discover more from the motivated people who declare and are acting on their priorities.
— Karen Nelson is a contemporary dancer who teaches and performs.
The next All Island Forum, “Vashon Islanders: Where, How and Why Do You Serve Your Community? A Deeper Look and More Learning,” will be held 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, May 9, at the Open Space.
