 I heard you. I heard you. I've been sick, man. I mean, I've been sick. It's fist bump. And I just watched my hands. It's good. Look up. Look up. Glad you're here. We remember her. No. Remind me. Contact. I'm lucky I recognize you. You're not here. I just got away. Look who showed up, though. I know I'm recruiting. I was going to say this. Okay, I'm recruiting. Come on, both of you. I'm sorry. I did not think that I was here. I'm sorry. You look good, man. I'm recruiting. Are you okay? Look at that. I was sitting in the center. It was so easy. So, I invite you to sit here for me. Okay. We're recruiting all over the place. And Patty, make it quick. Very quick. Make it quick. And Patty, we have somebody there. So here or here? So Patty, you know how this works. But we're only convening this circle once, and that's at the beginning. So come first around the question, and then after that we're having everybody do the question, and then I'm inviting everyone in this group to join another group to keep the conversation going. You're good. You know the question already, you just don't know you know it. You've been preparing your whole life for this, Patty. Are you ready, energy guys? Okay. We're starting now. I already told them what's happening. Okay. I'm kidding. You need to use microphones though because we're live streaming. Good evening. If we can all take our seats, that would be great. Find a circle, and I think we have plenty of chairs. There are more circles up here. There really is no fun. It might just look that way. Okay. Come on in and join us. Welcome to the Election Eve conversation on what are we going to do the day after the election? That's our conversation tonight. We want to thank the Whitley Oblate School of Theology for sharing and gifting us with this lovely space again and supporting these wonderful conversations, and so I just wanted to say that up front. I thank you to Oblate School of Theology. My name is Anne Helmke, and I serve on the core team at the Peace Center who has these conversations on lots of different things, but tonight we're partnering intentionally with the Dialogue Institute, which sounds exactly like what it sounds like, Dialogue Institute. Texas Public Radio Dare to Listen, which seems to imply that listening is as much a part of the conversation as talking, right? And Nowcast. We want to thank Nowcast this evening. This is going to be live streamed, and so we're hoping, and Charlotte's going to be showing it as well on the screen, but we're hoping that you will be texting people and telling them go nowcast and go to live stream so that they can be a part of it as well. So isn't that exciting? Kind of a new thing for us, so yay. A little explanation about this process. It really is about conversation. You're going to, we're going to have some conversation starters here in our center circle who are only going to do that. We do not have a panel of experts who are going to tell us what we need to do or how to think. Come Wednesday, November 9th, right? We all have the answers inside of us already. We've all been preparing our entire life for this moment whether we know it or not. So that's the wisdom and the resources that we're going for at this point. So I'm going to begin by asking a question which becomes everybody's question in this room, right? And this group in the center who are going to quickly each time when they talk they're going to introduce themselves. Just their name and kind of what they might be connected to or the school they're from or whatever they're working on in their life, but briefly. And they're just going to model the conversation. And they're going to do that for about 15 minutes. And then we're going to break into, and I know some of you just love to move your chairs, but we're really trying to get everybody a chance to talk. So we're encouraging groups no larger than four and have conversation. We also encourage folks to sit with people they've never met before because you're going to learn things from people who might not think exactly like you and your friends might think it's just a little bit more similar to you, right? So we'd encourage that, but you're going to need to do what you need to do, and that's going to be just fine too. So you'll get a chance to talk for about 15 minutes on the first question. Then I'll be asking a second question that's going to help us go just a little bit deeper. Another 15 minutes of conversation. And then a third question that's going to take us even to another deeper level. And we'll have another 15 minutes to discern that, okay? And then the final 15 in your group you're going to discern the one most significant thing that you heard this evening. You're going to decide as a group what that is. You're going to write it down. You're going to decide who's going to share it back and you're going to tell the rest of us what that learning is. And that's how we're going to end. Does that all make sense? It's real simple. I'm going to be leading you through each step of the way. We call these things living room conversations. And the reason we call them that is because this type of conversation can happen in any room and bring it alive. It makes it a living room. And yes, even in your own home, in your own living room. So that's, we want the authentic living conversations that need to be happening in the world. Am I making sense? Not? Very good. Yay. So just to set the tone a little bit, I just recently saw a survey by ABC that said that 40% I would bet even today it might be higher because this was like in the middle of October when this survey was taken. But 40% of Americans who were surveyed said that they were at odds about tomorrow and its outcome with someone in their family or close friend. 40% and again, that number might even be higher today, right? So we probably all have somebody in our life, an important somebody that we want to know how to continue with that relationship as well. Ready? Do we have a question over here, sir? Oh, Rudy, we need to bring you up to the center circle right here. We're getting ready. We have one more conversation starter. Thank you. I saw that out of the corner of my eye. Sorry. The other thing that I've heard, and I want to start here, this is really important. I want to start our evening in a moment of gratitude. Now, that might sound a little weird when I tell you why I'm grateful, but I think this is important. I think it's as important now as it will be on Wednesday morning. But I was told this evening that in San Antonio in early voting, 435 thousand approximately people have voted. Yes, and so in gratitude to Hillary and Donald, and I mean this, thank you for waking us up. Thank you for bringing us to the polls. Thank you for making us aware of our responsibility and our ability to respond in how this country, our country is shaped and formed. It's our responsibility. And so I am grateful for that. I'm grateful for all you being here this evening. Tonight's conversation is not about who you voted for. It's not about how the election comes out. It's about Wednesday morning. All right. So now I'm going to turn to our conversation starters. And Rudy just got here, so I'm going to explain this process a little bit. Although I think you've seen it before, I ask a question. They're going to use microphones. They're going to have to pass it around and share. There are enough for everybody or every two people. Because we're live streaming, they need to be able to hear what's being said. And just simply converse. What you're doing is modeling conversation. Not being the expert or having the right answers. Okay? Very good. And you're going to introduce yourself just really briefly when you grab the mic. Okay? Great. So here's the question. And everybody needs to listen to this because this is your question as well. So when you break into your groups, you're going to continue the conversation. I'll repeat it twice. Now, imagine that it's Wednesday morning. November 9th, 2016. Okay? And being as honest as you can with yourself and the rest of us. Be honest. Right? How do you hope that you will proceed living together with others in spite of differing views and post-election vantage points? Do you have some strategies? So the question again, imagine that it's Wednesday morning, November 9th, 2016. And being as honest as you can with yourself and with the rest of us. How do you hope and maybe strategizing that you will proceed living together with others in spite of differing views and post-election vantage points? Hello. My name is Victoria Torres and I'm a student at our Lady of the Lake University. And listening to this question and interpreting it, I'm picturing myself Wednesday morning, of course, scrambling going to class in the morning. But I think being able to act how we already are, I feel like this election shouldn't really have, obviously it is a big impact. This is a big election, especially in me and this is the first election that I'll be able to actually legally vote and everything. And given that though, no matter the decision or no matter who's elected or anything like that, I feel like it first starts with me and finding that piece within myself and that continuation of life and not letting, you know, this presidency, this kind of this everything going on to really if any anger or anything reflects really the person that I am. So I just think continuing to be the person that I am no matter the decision or no matter anything is what I would do. Okay. Can you hear me? My name is Jerry. I am with started a company called I Am Viral Change. And I think Wednesday morning is the same thing. Pretty much going to be the same thing I wake up to every day and that's making sure that we treat I mean no matter what, some people are going to wake up afraid that morning. And living in fear is what causes anger, hate, and leads all in everything that none of us want to be a part of. So I think when we wake up and when we do have those conversations to have faith that one, things are going to keep going on. Because no matter how bad everybody has thought it's been the biggest fears that have been out there after every election, you know, the biggest ones are not, you know, very rarely become reality. So I think it goes back to us just especially when we meet those people. I have a very diverse group of friends that are very very much on one side or the other. And I would say, you know, again, just continue to talk to them about faith instead of fear. Have faith in the people around you instead of fear and concern. You know, because the faith means we can all find ways to work together. Good evening everyone. I kind of want everyone to see me. My name is Karina. I am a film student at our Lady of the Lake University here in Antonio. And so I kind of this whole conversation things kind of like it's kind of like hitting me actually. I just turned 21 last month, so this will be also my first time voting. And so it's kind of it is a huge eye-opener, you know, being having your first time, having to vote. And so I think for me this whole election has kind of hit me like a rock, you know, so many emotions and so just so much going on between both of these presidential candidates. And just being a millennial you see a lot of you know, a lot of the stuff right now is media and you're just online you see all this stuff happening, riots and different presidential speaking whenever they are speaking and so you just see a lot of this hate and so kind of what Jerry was saying, it is a lot of right now we're leaving with fear, you know, a lot of us are. And so I think also it's just we definitely, Wednesday morning it is going to be a little frightening for some of us and so it is about just being able to see like how Victoria was saying, being able to start with yourself and being okay, thinking what can I do to better this outcome of whoever wins the election, it's kind of like okay what can I do, what can I start, what can I do different and I think for me personally being a millennial and just being introduced into coming to the real world, you know, I'm 20 and it's going to be my 20s and whoever this president is it's going to affect me. I'm so sorry. I'm a very emotional person. But yeah and so I think it's just being able to push through this here. My name is Bill Mitchell, I'm with Texas Public Radio's Deer to Listen campaign and I've been doing a lot of listening. Ann assured me that I would have the answer to this question when it came. I can assure Ann I don't know that I have the answer but I think I've made peace with the election outcome no matter what it is. I think that when Wednesday rolls around I'll accept it. I'll be pleased or disappointed. If I'm disappointed I will work to deal with it. If I'm pleased I'll be concerned about all those who aren't pleased and we'll worry a little bit about what the outcome of that will be. I think part of my concern is we don't have many opportunities to sit down and share our thoughts with one another. We spend so much time screaming at each other from various sides of the field that conversations really have become somewhat antiquated and obsolete. So my concern I guess on Wednesday morning is how do we go back to having as Ann said living room conversations with our people at work and our friends and our neighbors and our families. We're not structured that way today. We don't have the opportunity to really sit down and talk to each other and listen to what others think. I think that's a serious problem facing us and I don't think I'll have the answer to that until at least Thursday morning. Rudy Harst with Celebration Circle and on Wednesday morning as most mornings I plan to awake with the rising sun and look at the sun and listen to the hawks overhead and remember that they don't care who's elected president and align with that position. I have my opinions, I have a lifestyle but I don't need to hold to my opinions on Wednesday or Thursday or for the coming days. I'm committed to simply listen and to remember the hawks and the sun and the moon and the fullness of the eternal scope of our life. Not just today but the fullness of our lifetimes and the lifetimes of our children will be affected by my ability and our ability to simply listen and be compassionate without needing to be heard. Good evening. My name is Olaya Humphrey and I am the owner of Best Foot Forward Training Transformations and also a member here of a local Masjid Bilal Ebin Rabah and my first thoughts about this question is how will I wake up? I'll wake up like I do every morning with prayer and I pray for my family, I pray for my congregation, I pray for my neighbors, I also pray for this country. I have been too very worried by much of what the atmosphere that's been going on, it seems to have world up the perfect storm of all the isms that we are afraid of racism, sexism, classism and religious phobias and culturephobia, xenophobia. I'm so aware of these things and I don't think that no matter what the outcome is, I don't think these things are going to go away. My role will be to be a positive force to even if I can't make it go away to be a force to at least help it be neutralized. I have the blessing of being in the San Antonio community where I just meet so many good people that are on the same page regardless of whether their political ideologies are quote-unquote Democrat or Republican. We all want the same things. We all want our families to be safe. We all want to be able to be free and move about this country, this society and do the things that we need to do and be engaged in. And I too, like Ann, I do think the two candidates for wakening and dredging up, making this question what our values really are. Perhaps we were so asleep, many of us. And this has really been a wake-up call. I think we are rallying on what our values truly are. And I'm happy about that. I'm hopeful about that. Am I afraid? Yes, I am. I can't shake that at all. That's there. But nonetheless, my hope is greater than my fear. I have been reading since age 15, I think. I was introduced to a beautiful poem, which has kind of been my mantra and different parts just reflecting to me in different parts of my life. And it's called The Ciderata by Max Ehrman. It was a poem and toward the end he says that we should be at peace with God, whatever we conceive him to be. And that whatever the noise is in the atmosphere, that we should nonetheless know that the universe is unfolding as it should. And we need to be at peace with him in order for us to be at peace with ourselves. We need to continue to strive to be happy, strive to be peaceful, strive to be righteous in the sense of are not letting our differing views cause us to act ill toward our fellow man and woman. Because in the end, again, it is not going to be about us being judged about being a Democrat or Republican or Libertarian. We are going to be asked, we are going to be asked how did we treat each other regardless of ideology that is not going to be on the table. My name is Patty Radle. Formally I serve on the school board for SAISD, but for the last 40 whatever years I've been very involved in issues in the inner city of San Antonio. And all the appeal of this election as we sit here and we wonder about our behavior on Wednesday. I'm thinking about a bit of a similar situation about a month after the 9-11 incident when people were getting ready actually for a prayer service. And people's opinions were all over the place. And a Buddhist friend sat quietly and said, this has taken us from our center. We are off center. And it just brought me to that point to say, well what is my center and what is everything about and how do I balance myself. And the other day as I was looking at a post on Facebook from a friend who had been struggling to study non-violence for a long time, punching a pinata of Donald Trump in the face. I thought he's off center. He's off center. And I called him out on it and he said, Patty you don't let me have any fun. And we just reminded ourselves of every word we speak, every action, our thoughts. Everything is important to the contribution of what we want in a better life. And so I guess my Wednesday morning, I think kind of like some other people have said, it's like every morning being centered and challenging myself for the day. And for me it's about struggling each day to try to be the most loving person. And how is that interpreted in the eyes of each person I meet that day? So that's my daily struggle. That will be my struggle on Wednesday. Especially in the light of the gamut of thinking that will be about us on Wednesday. I'm Jorge Montiel. I'm an organizer. And I think because of my work, I've realized recently that I perhaps not feeling the fear and anxiety that I hear a lot around me because of this election. What I've done, there's a couple of reasons why I think, well three reasons. I mean they're repressing it because I'm a Mexican male and we don't talk about our feelings. So that's one possibility. Another one is that I'm wholeheartedly convinced that neither presidential candidate represents most of us. And that's not a good thing. I realize that but I just don't feel like they represent me and most of the people that I work with and that I organize for. And so, you know, there's going to be some emptiness no matter who wins. And then the third reason is I've thrown myself and our organizing work into local issues. Things that people deal with day in, day out. Your school district whether we have funding at the state level for schools, whether we're going to have the right kind of laws to curb predatory lending, whether, you know, those things that we live with, no matter what happens in DC, we're going to deal with those things here in San Antonio and Texas in Bear County. And so I've got my hope is that we continue to focus on things that are more immediate and that are the quotidian kind of thing as opposed to the ideological kind of thing. And so if we focus on that, we're more likely to find common ground with those who voted the wrong way. And in fact I have a strategy. One of the reasons we schedule this gathering of different congregations of different traditions on Thursday night because I wanted to have something right away, right after the election so that we can come and say okay that's done, let's work on what's in front of us. So thank you, our conversation starters. We can all thank them together. They've started our conversation. Thank you. And now I invite all of us to turn to each other in our small circles and to continue having that exact conversation. Do I need to repeat the question? You can raise your hand if I do. Yes, here's the question. Imagine that it's this coming Wednesday morning, November 9th, 2016 being as honest as you can with yourself and the rest of us so that being on this part is important. How do you hope and maybe strategizing that you will proceed living together with others in spite of differing views and post-election vantage points? So it's the same conversation that we've been having. We'll do that for about 15 minutes. A-I-N-A, Martinez. Martinez, and how old are you? I'm 21. And you're also our lady of the lay? Yes, and I'm a junior. A junior too. Okay. Wonderful. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. We're eavesdropping. Most articulate. You're the only one who does eavesdropping. I'm Sharon and I'm here through Compassion San Antonio and different groups and I love being at the Wins. So are so Wins to morning? To listen because I have a lot of super anxiety, not particularly about how it's going to affect me physically. But how the wrong person wins, as someone said. How it's going to affect our country in relations with other countries and nuclear bomb ideas. So you're a freeland. Huh? So you're a freeland. Well, yeah. And yet on the other hand, of course I'm afraid if the right person wins we're going to have a big, I won't say revolution, but there's enough people out there with extremely strong feelings and have been given like, it's like Pandora's Box starting to open. And so that's, I came here to kind of I'm still, I mean I keep trying to soothe myself, but I can't see a way out. So it's good to listen to I mean I think probably the most it's like approaching to the choir here, maybe. Right. I could be wrong, but that's why I'm here. I really need to listen and maybe take some of the ideas to heart. And I don't know how I'll react. There was a really good editorial, I'm not sure what it was in the Washington Post I don't know if anybody saw it, but they said when you look back, every election in a way is like this. People take it to heart and they think it's going to be the end of the universe if the wrong person wins and it always, always, always has worked out in the end. It's never as bad or never as good as we think it's going to be. Do you think this is going to be like that? I think it is. I've been trying to not talk politics and I went to visit my family in Philadelphia in October and my brother took me aside and the two of us had never agreed politically. His role model for a politician is Richard Nixon still. That's saying this something. But he said, his wife, my sister-in-law, you know, and I have one brother, she's really an avid reporter and Barb has never expressed an iota of interest in the news and politics in anything and somehow this has captured her imagination and it's shadow. You know, she's 68 years old and has never been interested in politics before and on Wednesday she's never going to be interested in politics again. And I just told her, I said we're not going to talk about this at all. You're my sister-in-law. I love you. And if we start talking about this, we're going to end up shouting at each other and it's going to turn ugly and one of this is going to say something that can't be taken back. So, aren't the fall colors beautiful? And I think on Wednesday or Thursday or Friday or December, this will all be normalized again. And the thing is for us to remain that as Patty was saying, the center. To remain center. It seems like it's really a partisan thing. We're going to record your group so we can hear what you guys are saying on camera. I'm going to get stage fright now. It seems like it's really a partisan issue and it's more of a how can we solve the problem. Whether it's about water or transportation or education and it seems like somehow we can make politics more of a daily real thing for us. The national level gets so abstract and it gets so disconnected from us. But at our level, it seems like it's more about how can we get this fixed rather than how your principles are uncompromisable and somehow that's going to keep us from working together. I guess that's what I worry about is trying to think about is trying to make these ideas something that I know I can deal with on a day-to-day basis. Well, I think what you said when you spoke was the first time about you are with a lot of the same people each day that kind of think the same. I think it would be a good exercise for us to be alert to those times when we're not with people who think like we do and to make it a personal exercise to start conversation and share ideas perhaps in the gentlest way just for us to know each other. It's one thing of people of different cultures to sort of break through those lines that seem to separate us, people of different color. But some of us who look very much like the other people that we hang around with, we have so many dividing lines that we can't see and sort of like I said making an exercise of trying to increase conversation with people who are different than us on any level. I think maybe that was the point I was trying to make earlier was that while you made maybe your son-in-laws and yourselves can't talk about these politics at a national level but maybe on a more local level there's something there you all can find some common ground on and it's not so difficult and so maybe that's where the conversation can start at what are we trying to do right now in our community and it is a political kind of conversation I think a lot of what we end up talking about in our world is a political act of one kind or another whether it's the curriculum that we're trying to teach or the policies you're trying to promote or uphold in work force, state institutes or in accounting just the principles of Valero and what they stand for and what they're trying to do because it's not just about money I think and so trying to make those things I think more real might open up those avenues for some agreement that you lose when it gets to these larger-than-life characters like Hillary and Trump and I think too you can work with people without agreeing with their philosophies I mean we do it all the time and so maybe that's where you start is getting something that is meaningful to both of you in the family and working on that together and letting all that other superfluous stuff just go to the back of your minds and once you realize you can work together then you can accept each other's ideas too to bear the tolerance when we can see that the other person really is a good person I have a brother-in-law who's very right-wing but he's a great guy and so we can agree on so many things we love the Spurs you know we love the Cowboys and so there's many many things that we can find common ground on and so I got to keep reminding myself to try to gently engage him in ways that are not threatening and yet can still maybe open those doors to am I trying to understand them a little better why he thinks that way I'm not sure I do that often enough to really ask those kind of questions how did you get to this point what drove you or pushed you in this direction when he seems to be so different from the rest of his family that's an interesting story I think to share and understand I'm not sure I've done that well enough question number two and before I give you the next question now cast is asked to come by with a microphone if you like accept it that tells them that you're willing to be recorded so they're getting conversations and they're live streaming those so again if somebody comes around with a microphone on a cord that's kind of what they're asking if they have your permission okay so you just take the microphone and just keep conversing right they've been doing a great job it's been live streaming just beautifully I've been looking at some of the footage so it's really good so thank you so our second question so we got some holy days coming up yeah lots of them lots of different kinds from different faith traditions they're around the corner given those holy days that are coming up and what they mean also even giving some of our partners this evening and the dialogue institute dare to listen so the next question is given those things what new and ancient wisdoms can help us move forward in living together with others in spite of differing views and post election vantage points what new and ancient wisdoms can help inform us moving forward and I'll have about 15 minutes for that all of a sudden drawing a blank but as far as something new I just mentioned something ancient new would be the concept of communities understanding that the success of that whole community really relies on each person in that community invest in that next person specifically children in education if you get behind as a youngster by going to a substandard school where the teachers are not certified the school is not accredited etc do you know how difficult it's going to be to ever catch up in the competition you're going to face so communities have to understand where the answer is not always well I'll just move to a better school district it may be let's stay and work to better our school district so our children have a better future that's all that comes to mind right now the recognition that we are truly a village or a body that takes all parts and the challenge to find out what part the individual that you are confronted with what is their gift that they bring to the village I think the challenge that we need to walk with is that we look around and try to discern what their gifts are because if you show that kind of interest concern and confirmation of the other person by an interest in finding out what it is that they do I mean you break down unbelievable barriers that may have existed as a way using an old thought out of the New Testament that the body each part has its own part none is more important than the next it's just that we all have parts and I think basing on that going after understanding what that is would break down barriers I think one of the things I see is the whole idea of inclusivity versus including people including a diverse environment and not excluding people and on the basis of a variety of things inclusiveness of people of color with those of us without color so to speak to include people who are not necessarily from our same faith group or people from the conservative side or the liberal side of a specific faith group I think that we need to take a look a little bit of what Tom was saying at people and what are their gifts I think we tend to throw gifts away I think our justice system is not the ancient justice system I don't think we respect people who make mistakes we only have one solution and that's put them in jail get them out of society get them away from us rather than looking at who are they what did they do who did they do it to was there a reason or is it random and trying to deal with those people and make them a valuable part of society a productive part of society and a part of our conversation that we go out of our way to meet people who are not like us in the places I've had the opportunity to go to I've walked into homes where their entire culture is 180 degrees from mine but I've always been treated very well they've always gone out of their way to make me welcome to introduce me into their culture and that's both male and female and I think we need to do more of that because we have all of that here in the United States we've got a wealth of people we've got a wealth of skills we've got a wealth of knowledge and just because that wealth is presented differently to us that should be the opportunity to open the door and welcome them in and not shut the door excellent excellent points for me I really really believe we have to go to Scripture because I know we all have gotten away from it whether you're Christian, Muslim, Jewish whatever Scripture you follow I really believe the answers are there and we have so devalued the human being in our souls which is the most important and the most valuable asset that all this fear and all this materialism all this corruption has crept in and has just grabbed us away from what's most important so in our Scripture the Holy Quran we're taught that if God wanted to he could have made us all the same we would have been all the same he wanted us to be different so that we would honor and respect one another so I really believe we have to get back to Scripture the difference is what makes us beautiful keep the conversation going let's not every generation has certain wrongs every generation has had certain events and certain wrongs that have taken place and we should learn from that and move on I'm not saying go back and dwell on it just because your grandfather killed Native Americans that your grandfather was a bad person no it happened it was at that space and time and this is a different space and time but we look back and we learn and we move on and that's the progress our nation has made and I hope we continue to do that in a restaurant there's a sign they say that you eat your grandchild will pay and then man of course they go inside how much he can then they brought him a really big huge bill that much it's from your grandfather what happened in the past it happened if you stick in the past then you cannot move to the future the future is ours and whatever we will build we are going to build for our kids it depends on what you want to build if you want to demolish what was already built you are free but I would rather prefer to be at the side of the people who wants to build a better society it doesn't matter who will elect it but they need to be open to work with the public with all of us I think there's a difference if we try remember the past just don't focus on the blame it happened no one alive here had anything to do with slavery it didn't exist when we were all born you remember that it happened in the past but if you start assigning blame especially to those living today it's just constant battle between people you bring up old grudges there's old wisdom so somebody who opposes slavery in the 19th century there's no reason for world war one those people have wisdom and it comes from some place in the early modern period some like Erasmus of Rotterdam the first western articulations of a studied pacifist position so there is wisdom from the past it's worth paying attention to and applying in the present I'm not a pacifist but reading Erasmus and reading Jane Adams with somebody like that what are the seeds of the wisdom they look to and it's not simple beliefs they receive they mold on them they turn them into practical views of the world it's funny how people that have more education have been exposed to more ideas tend to have certain beliefs about the future about the past from people that have less education exposed to fewer ideas and I think that makes a difference I think people need to be exposed to more ideas more education will make us all better as a people well we have educators who want to erase slavery from history those were African laborers brought to contract work in the west there's this educational denial there's a creation of a course on Mexican Americans as maybe one eighth of the history of Mexican American life in there that way we can move on to the future what do you do about the people that just won't come Wednesday morning they're still not going to listen to any of that they're going to be focused still on blaming being mad at the world being mad at Democrats being mad at all those people that they perceived stole or rigged or lost the election and they're going to be mad I don't know how just walking away but I'm not sure walking away really is going to accomplish anything yes you get away from the anger somehow those people still they're still Americans they're still going to live here and if their resentments and anger continue to grow without any effort to include them back in you know that hey okay you know let's say my side loses well I'm still a part of America and we go on let's say their side loses but they're still Americans and they still deserve to be here they still deserve our respect I mean I may not agree with their point of view I mean there's been time I don't necessarily agree with Reuben but I still have to respect him he's still an American he's still a veteran he still served his country and it's a lot of other people that I know of but they're respectable people they go to work they pay their taxes they're good to their families they went and voted so you know okay let's just maybe just agree to disagree we don't talk about the answer sir we treat them with respect and you know it's another day it moves on this is a procedure that we have here this is a country that we live in you can't divorce yourself from reality you've got to live in this country and you treat them with respect and console them and you know hey it's not the end of the world you know you had some good ideas too and I like your idea about you know maybe on taxes or on I told my son the other day you know there's some Trump ideas that I've been talking about for 20 years but it just was well I'm not going to get into specific candidates but the main problem is ignorance this unity and poverty for all of us that we need to talk I mean they tied to each other if you find a solution for them and the current situation is about ignorance with respect to other ideology this is that means that you have a lack of education bringing our conversation to a pause for our third question this is really exciting you're all just talking and so engaged it's really a beautiful thing isn't it amazing when you're having great conversation how time stands still and moves so quickly all at the same time relationships like this beautiful so thank you for sharing tonight it's amazing to watch now taking everything that you've discussed so far this evening what you're going to do on November the ninth what you hope and you plan all the new and ancient wisdom hopefully that you just discussed mixing that all up now imagine that it's one, two, three maybe four years from now imagine it's one, two, three, four years down the road and you have all this information available to you how do you hope and strategically plan to proceed together with family friends your congregation your community San Antonio at large even within the United States how do you strategically plan to move forward with others living together with differing views and from different vantage points after this election to repeat it again your imaginings are into the future with all that you have collected tonight another 15 minutes but what but what it boils down to is that if congress and the president I mean make a change if congress passes a law on the president vetoes it takes a much larger group of congress to override that veto and the other way that the checks and balances work is we have a court system that ultimately and they are since Marbury versus Madison they are an equal branch of government now it is true in the last couple of decades it's more partisan and the decisions are five fours and that's why whoever is elected president is going to have a huge opportunity to set policy far into the future on who they nominate for the court and whether or not the senate approves them but the court is an equal branch they will break parties they will and if you look at how they vote there are some that are the ones that go either side and they take their job seriously and they have great camaraderie and they are free from political influence because they are there for life so that to me that whole conversation about the supreme court was more blah blah blah in my opinion it was all conversation to push buttons to stir people up those judges looking back have made very good decisions they have done things that they felt right about doing after studying the constitution and the question at the end and there have been justices who were appointed by one party exactly Obamacare what's his name the judge go back to the question as to how this will be played out in the future as to what we are doing even tonight listening and trying to be agreeable at even in points that we disagree what's that going to be like in the future that's what she's driving us to answer Obamacare is a practice listening good point I think before we reach a point where you said I'm an optimist before we can look out and say gee things are better I think that we also have to be realistic in what you were saying that we are at a pretty sticky point how do we find some commonality has there ever been the time in the past when we were just divided in the previous centuries the lecture was very I think in the 1960s when I was growing up otherwise LBJ would have been able to act without any problem it took the skill of a statesman like LBJ 1877 that election where it was a deal to end reconstruction and so in certain states I'm trying to remember the president it wasn't Jackson and I can't remember his name I'm having one of those 60 year old it was old age to 7 there was a commission of 15 people and they called the Democratic winner old age to 7 and basically they agreed to let this guy get the presidency because he would end reconstruction I can't remember what he was if you look at it in the very long, long, long term that ended but that's we're going to be yeah but what I'm talking about contentious races where the presidential race was so divided that it had to be settled through negotiations amongst that was contentious where it had to be decided by the Supreme Court he didn't come up with a lot of solutions but the ones that he came up with were pretty good but he would give himself time to think and we don't do that anymore teach, we say we teach critical thinking and we don't, we talk about it they're looking for they're so good at coming up with the obvious answer that they think that everything has worked out that way there is a technique to problem solving they're just not convinced that step back and just take a little time and think, what do I know well I think part of it has been because we aren't at age where things just go so fast and so it's incumbent upon ourselves to teach that it's okay to take time teach it's okay to meditate I know I think at St. Mary's where I was educated I mean that is one of the things that is instilled through the education and take time to reflect, to meditate, to discern, to pray well I would say that they do only because the kids I work with are being educated at a Marinus institution so I'm a little biased in those sorts of settings for Our Lady of the Lake, those two ladies are going to that institution I think they're, when you go to a small liberal arts university those are the things that are happening what needs to happen in our larger public universities to make sure that those things continue to happen it doesn't need to be spiritual, it doesn't need to be prayerful, it just needs to be about reflection and discernment and how all of that is important to make decisions how it was important back in the day and how it's important now that this technology is advancing that's always going to be needed I was having a conversation also about how with regard to the speed question, the media we're enculturated now to have continuous updates that if CNN can't have a breaking news feed they'll create, they'll still label it they'll label it breaking news and yet if you really dissect the language or you dissect what's happening it really is the same old story but they're shifting the angle maybe 10 degrees and so there's a sense that you constantly have to be plugged in, you constantly have to be stimulated yeah, you constantly have to have this either loud or boisterous or right view and that nobody else can defeat you so that you can constantly come up with the same byline or same storyline or same sense of oh this is who we are as this news group or this is who we are as this news group and so it really is counter cultural in many ways to talk about meditating or to talk about unplugging this weekend I did not turn on my computer for the whole weekend I didn't check my email for two days and I mean people were freaking out that they couldn't get, I did have my phone but it was strange to see where are you, what are you doing, what is something wrong, you know there's just a sense of continual contact, continual information and we do, I think it is part of that critical reflection it's part of being a thoughtful human being and we haven't spent a lot of time fostering that but I do think that a liberal arts education is the place where it can happen because if you go, I mean I love UT, I have tens of friends who have graduated from there but there's constant activity, constant constant constant stimulation and not a sense all the time from my view I haven't attended there but I can see where if you were a young adult you'd be totally overwhelmed and want to experiment with everything and so if you're constantly experimenting when do you have time to just be to breathe and so I think it's an emphasis of education that if the answer is obvious you probably haven't thought about some things or if it's too easy you probably haven't put enough brain power into it things are a lot more complex than I think young people think today, I mean because they think so fast they've been trained to think so fast that to be able to come up with an answer in a solution to every problem that fast you fail to see the complexities of life and that most things do have complexity to them that most things aren't that simple dealing with other groups of people and masses of people there are lots of complexities there and I think we live in a reductionist era where because media or for what we want to reduce it to the simplest answer a gentle pause and now this becomes kind of the jeopardy challenge for the evening alright so I'm looking at our clock and we do everything we can at the peace center to honor time and you have blessed us this evening with your time and so we plan to honor it and make sure that we all leave by 8.30 okay we honor that in our time in the next 5 minutes again jeopardy right you're all adults you're all smart I invite you to talk amongst yourselves and discern in your group what was the one most significant thing that you want to share with the rest of us the one most significant thing that you talked about tonight that you want to share with the rest of us okay you have to decide together I dropped off literally an index card at each group if you don't have one make sure you raise your hand and I'll make sure you get one that card is there for you to write down succinctly that one most significant thing and then your group needs to decide who in your group is going to share that one most significant thing in 45 seconds or less jeopardy challenge right right okay in your group to send one most significant thing write it down succinctly decide who's going to share it you've got 5 minutes do do do do do do do do do do do do do do some kind of value some kind of principle that brings the world together I think we cannot and that's why I wanted to keep emphasizing the idea of crimes against humanity and war crimes we cannot believe in this idea that America is somehow exempt or above or superior to the rest of the human race and that it is okay for us to continue you know this kind of lifestyle that has been described as a crime against humanity and this is not just an abstract thing because we all know based on our conversation that this did happen that sometimes Americans did these evil acts I don't think we've come to grips with that so I don't know how we can move on until this group and all the other Americans are willing to look in the mirror and realize America has been guilty and we have to judge ourselves we cannot continue to condemn everyone else I think that's definitely important and I think we all have specific specific causes that we kind of have an introduction into because of our lives so I would say in general I think one thing that's really important is all of us don't reach a plateau in our engagement that we lead more that we support causes more that after the election we find ways to take the change that we haven't seen implemented and run with it however I mean I think for a lot of us this election has stirred us up so if we have things that are stirring let's get out there and let's see what we can do in order to make change I think our small groups have a lot you know we're looking at Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton but you know there's a lot of small leaders who are doing a lot so um and to kind of piggyback off your idea we do need to face it I don't think people are going to face it by being put into the I mean thrown at them I think I would love it if that's the fact but I think we run from we run from our faults especially in the United States we run from them and deny them and puff ourselves up I mean that's just what we do not just as a country but individually that's kind of our habits one of the things I kept hearing that I want to say I would just throw out is the one thing is respect the power of small things and everyday things and everyday conversations and bringing those up respect those small things and don't just think that this I need to go and pursue this but even that small step towards contacting that group or going to one thing or having that one conversation respecting those and realizing how much power they have because they all affect our lives I mean we're at several small things that led us to this point so we're going to be able to put something on the card well yeah I was thinking that sometimes it doesn't all fit into the ideas that they that the leaders well yeah but I'm just thinking that it could be that we have fruitful conversation but it's not that we can come up with one thing to put on the card that one thing stands out above everything else that was said in this group we come to that I think we evolve into that it can't be forced in people's faces I mean it's a long process to for those who see things totally different from us to move from believing that the US has been the most wonderful and mighty and perfect and correct nation of the world to come to the realization that atrocities have been done in their name deliberately and directly it's going to yes it's yes and that it's still happening today that they're going to evolve in that it's not gonna I don't think that's the first step I think that's actually the last step it's like the truth commission in South Africa that came well but first we got there there are a lot of other steps before that even I think well I'd like to know all of you better that's one thing I found out from this we've got three microphones set up here one is moving even as we speak moving and one over here I want to invite whoever is speaking from your group to go to one of those three microphones and if you will face the direction that the mic is focused towards that way you'll be on the live stream okay so I'm not going to invite each group up individually so I'd encourage you to kind of get moving so and I'm going to move it I'm just going to kind of keep doing a round robin over here so if you would just introduce your first name alright and then you all might want to take up your pens we left a piece of paper at your place to take notes you might hear some things you didn't discuss in your group tonight that might be important but I want to take home with you so you might want to take notes so I want to start over in this microphone on the east side over here yes in the plaid blouse it's beautiful go right to the mic okay my name is Paula and our group summarized our conversation in about three bullet points here we talked about the importance of reflecting and to create balance in our life right now just a second we're going to check that microphone people can't hear you I'm pretty sure it's on but you might need to talk more directly into the microphone yes it's on I can hear it Craig talk more directly into the mic okay collection in order to create balance lower it please thank you we'll make this work hello can you hear me now okay our group talked about the importance of reflection to create balance in our lives and how that gives us space for growth and we're seeing this kind of dark time in our election as an opportunity for change and it's a challenge to see that this is a positive thing in the future thank you if we can go to the back here my name is Janay and my group over here we felt that to build on the momentum in a positive way by educating reflecting and communicating and that actions speak louder than words we would like to see a global society that transcends nationalism and ideology we can organize our politics economics around principles a main or key principles would be that we would spend each of us spend public funds in a way that we want to spend the public funds but in a way other people agree is a good idea so if I hold a portion and when we organize around principle we share principles such as we have a shared right to limit environmental impacts if industries had to pay when they put pollution they'll try not to put pollution if we raise the fee until the survey says most people said they're not doing that too much that means the fee is high enough if the fees are shared equally we're reflecting the understanding the principle that the natural wealth should be enjoyed by all equally we share those proceeds equally so we can end poverty and make a sustainable society by organizing around principles that we all embrace we can transcend nationalism in accord with what now is possible technically that we can John hi I'm Craig our group focused on modeling awareness, compassion, empathy and humility because the children are watching oh it's for me now okay I'm Siraj we took into account the perspective that all of the wrestling and all of the strife and everything that we're seeing now is on purpose so that now we will begin to talk and dialogue learn more about ourselves our system of government learn more about everything around us and in the end we're hoping that this will create the uplifting importance of respectful dialogue and a willingness to be transparent as individuals as communities and as a nation about our differences so that we can adapt to the cultural changes political changes religious changes that are just inevitable thank you I'm June and we talked a lot about engaging with others there's going to be a real need for that after this election and our discussion about recognizing the inherent worth and dignity of all people thank you Howdy I'm Xavier and my group talked about looking for opportunities to build community perhaps starting in our own neighborhoods with our own neighbors finding ways to get out of our homes and meet them get to know them and engage them and perhaps by making ourselves vulnerable by sharing what expressing what scares us what we hope for and what perhaps can drive us to find ways to bring come together and learn about each other thank you Hello my name is Monica and my group spoke about the ancient wisdom of the golden rule which is as we know treat others as you would like to be treated and that's how we move forward we also talked about taking making space and time to think about how we resolve conflict in our lives where do we learn conflict how do we act and resolve conflict among one another how do we really embrace the thought of walking in someone else's shoes to better understand their points of view and how to accept with compassion and I think we all agreed that this opportunity this evening creating this space to talk and to reflect is very therapeutic for when we wake up on Wednesday morning Thank you Alright, I'm Deirdre and our group spent a lot of time talking very similar answers to the question the early question about what we're going to do the day after and the question about what we're doing two, three, four years down the road had very similar answers for both of those and really it came down to that idea of finding our similarities finding our common denominator in conversations that we have that learning to not step away from the conversation just because we're scared of the conversation but to really spend time thinking about how are we similar where's the common denominator in the conversation in order to find our common humanity Thank you, this side Our group talked about the ancient wisdom of realizing that the universe is unfolding as it should and not letting that be a means for us to be complacent about what's going on but realizing how that makes us so powerful the power it is that we have and the power it is that we have is much greater than we on an everyday basis are to acknowledge we have more power locally and in our neighborhoods in our community that we need to tap into more and not just resign or leave it to feeling like there is so much power up above or in the national level we have a lot of things it is that we can do right here and right now and part of that power would come in our ability to create more space create more space for those that have differing views whether they're political or religious or ideological creating some space leaving some space there for others in dialoguing and not shying away being ready and willing to get our hands dirty in order to help us all move forward as humans Thank you, this side My group was thinking along very very similar lines we were talking about how the people have the power we just have to choose to use the power that we have we have to choose to treat one another by the golden rule we have to choose to hold our elected officials accountable advocate for in our case we felt campaign finance reform was very very important we want to choose to educate our children so that they think and read independently and consider all options and ultimately we need to choose to recognize others humanity and value others experiences Thank you I'm Edna, in our group we found very valuable our openness and our being vulnerable with each other in our dialogue we felt that we grow through the difficult times that we experience and that when we acknowledge our own our brokenness that gives us the opportunity to grow Thank you Edna I'm Ellen and our favorite idea was seeing if it would be possible to apply the idea of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission work that they did in South Africa after apartheid and wondered allowed if we could apply that idea in San Antonio it's basically about restorative justice you basically put people who disagree together and kind of keep them there until they agree enough to be able to restore the relationship so we wondered if there was a way to model that in San Antonio maybe by having those kinds of conversations recorded by we thought KLRN and TPR could partner or the Peace Center or Oblate or lots of other places and those recorded conversations could go out via social media or all kinds of other different kinds of ways to share what we would be doing here with people all across the country Thank you we can learn from our brothers and sisters across the ocean can't we thank Alice and our group wanted us me to share this with you all that you're saying though is so marvelous really we touched on a lot of that in our group but we wanted to share the fact that from the Christian perspective and maybe many other perspectives follow through that God has been thought of as a trinity of persons and instead we could think of as a trinity of actions and books are being written about this today the action of affirming the action of resisting the resistance to love and the action of reconciling all in unity in oneness and we thought that maybe in the four years from now we would grow in the beginning on Wednesday we would grow in our understanding of being the divine entity living in this body and affirming others affirming the truth in others resisting resistance to love by loving no matter what someone says by reconciling all in the unity of one United States Thank you My name is Karen and in our group we spoke a lot about listening just to sit back and to listen on Wednesday and in the next four years to others and that rather than pointing out disagreements and arguing that we would critiquing the negative through exemplifying the positive I'm Bill. Our group had so many incredibly profound ideas that it was really hard for us to single one out but we finally did and our ideas we thought more and more about it is expressed in this this too shall pass we're looking at 2016 from kind of a fishbowl perspective it's all around us it's chaos it's unpleasant it's unattractive we don't like it but in the larger scheme of things in the history of the United States I'm not sure it ranks in the top ten of bad times so I think our feeling is that we need to cope with it deal with it work with it stand up to it we had confidence in ourselves in our group and in this conversation group and we have confidence in our country and the people here that we will do the right thing I'm Elaine and our group had a good conversation it was hard to choose but we decided that the most important things that we came up with were to be the change to focus on the positive actions that we want to see happen that are already happening around us and to join in make those things happen and then about listening we were wondering how do we do that how do we listen to people when we totally disagree and we thought of asking questions and learning to listen without digging our heels in to our own opinions but also feel free that we can speak our own minds in a calm way and knowing when to end the conversation hi my name is Zarina and our group was the best I have to say that I'm Zarina thank you Bill, Tom, Joe and Jim we had a wonderful conversation this was a great this really was great so and everything that has been said of course we just concurred so we said in four years what should be really significant is that we should not be having this discussion we should be listening and discerning the beauty of the individuals we encounter by way of mutual respect that's what we should be doing in four years from now we shouldn't be here thank you so I won't see you here in four years just so you know my name is Jonathan Keisler with this fine group over here who's predominantly made up of people that work with young people and if you notice tonight among us there's very few young people and so one of the things that we said in four years the conversation should include young people we've recognized that we've come out of different cultural moods over the past 100 years we came out of modernity which celebrated uniformity and there was some behavior with that hitlerism, stallism but then we came into a postmodernism where there is a celebration of diversity our millennials are the first generation that have not had contact with people that have had remnants of modernity and so they really know how to celebrate diversity we can learn from our youth they know how to play together I work with high school students and they want dialogue they want to play soccer with the other and so often I think what we need to do is to organize opportunities for our young people to come together so that we can watch how they dialogue and learn from how they play and then talk thank you thank you Ann and I want to thank our group and I want to remind you that November is the 921st anniversary of Pope Urban II calling for a holy war it was in 1095 our willingness to acknowledge American violence and aggression toward other nations and other people learn about people learn about and understand the wisdom of the golden rule thank you and the embrace the power of the small actions what we're doing here tonight thank you Ann thank you my name is Arthur and I would like to share some thoughts which includes two of our panel members or two of our group members who are teachers pretty much we have the following thoughts we'd like to share with you throughout our country we have local public forums with assurance that everyone is heard the second one is we build on commonalities like with all the differences that we have if we can find commonalities and maybe even get excited about commonalities that we have and build on those the third one is we nurture a posture of peace and trust there was a former faculty member here he's since died years ago and he had this quote civility precedes holiness thank you thank you Arthur don't body has our main idea was nobody has monopoly on ideas or blame must respect each other for all the mistakes those that won or lost the election must be respected in other words someone else has an opinion it's not an attack on us it's their opinion and take it at that just like we wish other people do it for us thank you and our last hi I'm Dennis and we really had just one simple idea and that was affirming what happened in this room this evening we met people tonight that we did not know and we found so much in common about our hopes and fears through dialogue and we planned to replicate this in our own local circles of contact hmm before I thank you in a moment just to prepare you Rudy from Celebration Circle has been listening carefully to everything that's been said tonight and he's written a song from that and he's going to bless our way out of here while he's preparing I'm also going to eventually invite you to think into a moment of silence to think about one specific thing that you are going to do when you leave this space okay so we take that to ourselves and being the change okay and so while he's still getting set up and I'm going to hand him this microphone too I wish to thank you for coming this evening Rudy's going to have our closing words so I'm not going to have any more words after this I encourage you to replicate tonight this is not rocket science you can do this at home you can do this in your community center with your neighborhood association you can do it with your congregation you can do this in a park you can do this I hope with your spouse or somebody who you love again it's not rocket science replicate we also always invite people to the next step or a next thing I want you to note that on your chair I mean Sunday is the 100th anniversary of her birth which makes it her 100th birthday right of San Antonio's first peace laureate as far as we know San Antonio is the only city in the country that has a peace laureate we have poet laureates all over but our only peace laureate is here we're in our 10th year of that we're having peace laureates but she's celebrating her birthday so if you want to meet a real peace laureate who turns 100 who voted come this Sunday so replicate come and thank you for coming I want to take Rudy just a moment while you prepare and you get this mic just a moment of silence so that you can each think about what you're going to do next thanks to Ann and they're organizing this this this this this this this