 Every morning I go running. I start from my house in a largely
Hispanic working class community; pass under the window of my
elderly neighborhood sentry surveying the world from his second
story post; return the salute of a column of homeless guys guarding
the church steps; exchange greetings with young, upwardly-mobile
types walking their dogs; wave to a multi-national assemblage
of workers constructing a building; maneuver through the obstacle
course of wayward tourists chattering in various foreign tongues;
exchange grunts with reluctant executives trudging to work; and
dodge a plethora of panhandlers reciting their desperate mantras.
Then I turn around and head home. In one hour's time each day
I bid good morning to old people, young people, men, women, laborers,
office workers, and executivesrepresentatives of every continent,
with the possible exception of Antarctica.
While my sunrise salutations may exaggerate the norm, they are
certainly not an anomaly. City dwellers brush shoulders every
day with people who remain anonymous and whose stories are unknown.
To live in the city provides a kaleidoscopic view of humanity
in all its color and vibrancy. I thrive on it. It's the reason
I choose city life. It can also be perplexing, however, as I doze
off many a night to a cacophony of sirens screaming and helicopters
hovering. I'm baffled when the same adolescents who cheerfully
hold the door for me at the 7-11 in the morning defiantly harass
me at the bookstore where I work at night.
Unwilling to join the exodus to the suburbs, I continually search
for ways to find order in the chaos. Very few forums address the
contradictions. Media reports magnify the turmoil by their focus
on conflict rather than resolution.
Last spring, through my work with the Institute for Christian
and Jewish Studies (ICJS), I was invited to work on an initiative
which promises to untangle some of the twisted threads. With Baltimore
as the "test site," the ICJS is developing a pilot project which
invites individuals from different faiths and cultural backgrounds
to share their unique personal histories in an effort to open
communication and foster understanding. The stimulus for these
conversations is the viewing of tapes from Bill Moyers' series,
Genesis: A Living Conversation.
With the Genesis series, Moyers takes the leap from creative,
provocative entertainment to a serious attempt at catalyzing positive
change. Moyers produced the series out of a deep conviction that
the book of Genesissacred across three faiths and familiar to
a large segment of our so-cietycould serve as a tool for interaction
between the various and diverse members of a com-munity. In his
own words, "The capacity of biblical stories to...help make sense
of the world and live honorably in it, is undiminished...The important
thing is to ask, 'What does (the Bible) mean to us, now, in our
lives, nearing the end of the 20th century? How does it help us
to make sense of the world today?'"
For six weeks this fall, some 300 persons from twenty-seven religious
congregations around Baltimore are meeting in dialogue groups
to investigate the stories of Genesis. Each group includes representatives
from African American Christian, Jewish, and white Christian congregations.
The Genesis stories serve as a common ground where participants
are welcome to gather and express hopes, concerns, and observations
about their personal lives and their shared struggles.
Baltimoreans are primed for this type of interaction. The leader
of one congregation, fearing it might be difficult to recruit
the requested ten participants for the project, solicited volunteers.
He was forced to close registration when almost thirty people
signed up. This eager response characterizes all of the congregations
involved. One young African American woman expressed her hope
for the project and observed, "I pass Jewish people on the street
every day, but we never talk...." Another participant suggested
that these dialogues would help "put faces on the issues."
The Genesis project provides a refreshing opportunity for Baltimore,
this community of unsettling discord and infinite promise. With
the success of this project and its subsequent replication in
urban centers across the nation, Baltimore will claim its rightful
identity as a city that deals creatively with its diversity.
While the dialogues may not eliminate our urban woes, they may
open a few doors and forge a few friendships. Undoubtedly, they
will make living here a richer and more meaningful experience,
as the threads of our city's multi-cultural, interfaith tapestry
are examined and appreciated, each for its own brilliant hue. |