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December 15, 2017It all began with the sighting of a bumper sticker: Don’t believe everything you think.
It was four years ago, and at the time, Christ the King parishioner Jim Brown was going through a rough patch. A year prior he had lost his wife, Dori, to cancer. He was raising two teenagers on his own – 13 and 11 at the time of his wife’s passing.
He was also deeply troubled by the dysfunction in federal government and the extreme ideological polarization in the national conversation that was turning neighbors, colleagues, friends, even family members into enemies.
“That bumper sticker kept playing like ping pong in my head,” recalled Brown. “I had to get my head around it – did that apply to me? The way people were treating each other on social media. Everybody so certain, with no acknowledgement of the ‘other side.’ It was a real spark.”
That spark would ultimately become a book, “Ending Our Uncivil War: A Path to Political Recovery and Spiritual Renewal,” published by Brown’s own Agape Publishing, LLC.
The book promotes four major strategies to get us back on the track to civility: serving regularly; growing spiritually; protecting speech; and reforming government. Those strategies are organized into chapters with sub-chapters, followed by suggested additional readings and resources, contemplations and potential action steps.
The book grew out of personal observations, and many voices and philosophies swirling around his head. Brown has an extensive background in business and government. As the Tennessee State Director for the National Federation of Independent Business, Brown has been an advocate for thousands of small companies, working with leaders at the state and federal level on general interest issues for entrepreneurs.
As part of his own faith journey, Brown immersed himself in the writings and teachings of Father Richard Rohr, the founder of The Center for Action and Contemplation in New Mexico, and signed up to receive Father Rohr’s daily reflections.
“He spoke often about avoiding ‘either/or binaries’, which is what he called them,” said Brown. “In my profession there’s a lot of complexity and nuance in the making of law. As a lobbyist and advocate for small business, I saw how complex these issues are that people are talking about. I offer opportunities to see both sides of an issue, as Father Rohr encourages us to do, and seek more of a ‘both/and’ instead of an ‘either/or’.”
There are other voices and visions in the mix, like Charles Strobel, founder of Room in the Inn, Father Dexter Brewer of Christ the King parish, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Vanderbilt baseball coach Tim Corbin. “Some conservative, some liberal, some who don’t even know or don’t care, but people who serve regularly,” Brown said.
Serving regularly, growing spiritually and protecting free speech can be undertaken on a personal level. The fourth major concept – reforming government – requires a grassroots movement of many concerned people. A soapbox of Brown’s for 20 years, it is not a radical crusade bent on destroying government; it is more of a common sense effort to make our legislators’ work more effective and responsive, and less adversarial.
Through his lobbying efforts, Brown believes he’s been given a “front row seat” to observe how government operates, and he’s convinced that, by and large, it’s far more functional at the state level. “The reason for that is that the guard rails have either been in place for a long time constitutionally – like the single-subject requirement of one bill at a time, which is a requirement of 41 states – and they have to balance the budget, which means you have to establish priorities,” he said. “It brings people to the table.”
According to Brown, at the federal level, both major political parties operate from “the same playbook,” talking only to their bases, promoting fear and raising money from it, and refusing to engage in a constructive debate or even conversations that might identify some common ground.
“We saw it in the political debates between Trump and Hillary,” Brown said of the 2016 presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton. “A lot of the oxygen in the room was fighting and yelling at each other, not talking about the issues that both sides care about. Mr. Trump led that fight and Mrs. Clinton grabbed the rope and they had a tug-of-war in front of all of us. Part of the journey we’re on is watching to see if it’s possible to let go of the rope and actually talk about issues.”
Brown challenges his readers to take a similar journey, this one aboard a beautiful, spacious airplane, far above today’s confrontational “noise.” Brown then asks his readers to check their “political baggage,” shut down their technology, and choose a seatmate who is a political foe, a sworn enemy, or someone from a completely different background or point of view.
As an example, he peoples this plane with a Muslim and a Jew, a Christian and an atheist, an environmentalist and an unemployed coal miner, a CEO with five houses and a dishwasher making minimum wage. The hope is that flying above the “ground turbulence,” all of these atypical pairings might begin to recognize that they have much more in common than not.
An impetus for the book was the author’s own “airplane trip.” Brown’s “seatmate” was someone whose life he couldn’t comprehend – a homeless person. “How I viewed the homeless, in a certain way, was very arrogant,” Brown said. “I was giving money to the church and was saying that I was helping them, but I really wasn’t practicing my faith.”
In step with the first part of the book – serving regularly – Brown and his 17-year-old son Will, a senior at Father Ryan High School, have spent the last three years volunteering with Room In The Inn at Christ the King and at the downtown shelter, leading the author to a more profound acceptance. “So now they’re telling me why they’re not going to work and sharing their personal stories, instead of me judging them while looking at them on the corner,” he said.
According to Brown, becoming more open-minded to others who you might not ordinarily agree with or relate to does not mean you have to compromise your own beliefs. Brown, throughout his career, has learned that some of his best friends are people with whom he frequently disagrees, or maybe just agrees a small percentage of the time. “But I totally trust them,” he said. “I see the value of what they’re doing. I admire their integrity, even if I don’t agree with a cause they might be advocating for. I see their passion, and their commitment to their cause.
“When we start from that same point and we’re not enemies, and we don’t draw the line, we find common ground on issues where we can,” continued Brown. “Where do we agree? Let’s start there.”
Brown’s book can be purchased at his website, EndingOurUncivilWar.com, which also features an abundance of supplemental materials. It can also be found locally at Parnassus Books, St. Mary’s Bookstore and Barnes & Noble, or on-line through Amazon or Barnes & Noble’s websites. Brown will be doing a book signing 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 23, at St. Mary’s Bookstore at 1909 West End Ave. in Nashville.