This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

I wrote yesterday about this subject, saying that “man’s inhumanity to man” confounds rationale understanding, especially given actions by Vladimir Putin, Adolph Hitler and other tyrants who have zero regard for human life.

Then, I came across an e-mail from my friend, Sam Skillern, who runs an excellent organization in Salem, Oregon, Salem Leadership Foundation, which works around town to help charitable organizations deal with a host of issues, including immigration.

With modesty, he wrote about how his organization uses “tables” to do its work – gatherings of community residents around a “table” so they can talk about what makes Salem and Keizer work – or propose commitments to make the area work better.

The “tables” idea is important, for it is an image used to indicate that people gather together to share perspectives and “talk with each other.”  No need to condemn or oppose.  Just open communication.  On some occasions, it might have been called “a round table” to connote the fact that there was no head, just equal participants.

In his e-mail, Skillern said he had just come from a meeting which featured comments from several community leaders:

“This month we heard from Josh Graves, CEO of Catholic Community Services.   In June we’ll hear from Osvaldo Avila, board chair of Salem-Keizer Public Schools.   Other speakers have included Pastor Ronnie Brooks, Keizer Mayor Cathy Clark, civic leader Gregg Peterson, and police chiefs John Teague (Keizer) and Trevor Womack (Salem).
 
“Josh shared about the key concepts of Catholic Social Teaching.   Now, before I lose some folks on theological or political grounds, please bear with me.   It’s good stuff.  And that’s exactly what Breaking Bread/Breaking Barriers is for:  Idea-sharing and productive dialogue with intelligence, goodwill, and candor in the Socratic tradition – a concept Chief Teague shared with us.”

So, here is the list of commitments Skillern shared:

Life and Dignity of the Human Person.  Every human is created in the image and likeness of God.

Call to Family, Community and Participation.  The human person is not only sacred, but social.  How we organize our society – socially, legally, economically, and politically – directly affects human dignity and the ability of every person to grow in community.
 
Solidarity.  We are one human family.  We are our neighbors’ keepers, wherever they may be.
 
The Dignity of Work.  The economy must serve people, not the other way around.  Work is more than a way to make a living, it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation.
 
Rights and Responsibilities.  Every person has a fundamental right to life – the right that makes all other rights possible.  Each person also has a right to the conditions for living a decent life: food, health care, housing, education, and employment.
 
Option for the Poor and Vulnerable.  A fundamental measure of our society is how we care for and stand with our poor and vulnerable brothers and sisters.
 
Care for God’s Creation.  The world that God created has been entrusted to all of us.  Our stewardship of the earth is a form of participation in God’s act of creating and sustaining the world.
 

“In these precepts,” Skillern wrote, “I see both compassion and empowerment, not entitlement.  I hear ‘we’ rather than ‘us’ and ‘them.’   I perceive neither ‘left vs. right’ … nor ‘progressive vs. conservative.’”

I share Skillern’s perspective. 

Follow the precepts above and they will help to avoid more “man’s inhumanity to man” tragedies.

[Full disclosure:  As a lobbyist, I represented Catholic Community Services – CCC — and it was pleasure to associate myself with such a “community-centered organization.”  Josh Graves was the deputy director at that time and I worked closely with him.  So it’s good to see him elevated to the directorship.  My firm, now called CFM Advocates, still represents CCC.]