Melani Lamond wrote:
Doesn't this also mean that we also have to remember that non-joiners are not
the superior group of citizens either; they don't have the greater right to
berate joiners and the groups they join?
like I said, we're all stakeholders. which means non-joiners
are not a superior group of citizens, either.
we just need to remember that being an anabaptist or not
being an anabaptist isn't what defines our shared public
lives as neighbors. when it comes to public questions, being
a neighbor trumps being an anabaptist every day of the week,
no matter how nice anabaptists are, how many anabaptists
there are, how assured anabaptists are of a place in heaven.
If I appeared to be criticizing non joiners last week, that wasn't my
intention. I was expressing concern that without groups, there would be no eyes &
ears on the street to add to our safety, keep the sidewalks clean, and take
care of community "housekeeping." I was afraid that without organizations to
help them out, the citizens who take these projects on would, like me, eventually
get tired and "retire." I was saying that I was glad that there are now
even folks whose PAID jobs it is to do some of these things - it provides
employment, and it lets the rest of us who would otherwise feel obligated to shoulder
the responsibility for areas larger than our own, to have more free time. I
think your response, Ray, was something like, "it's okay if nobody does this
work." That concerns me, since cleanliness, safety and housekeeping are
important to me. Everyone has his/her own opinion about that, of course. But
we live close together in an area which is more workable when not chaotic, it
seems to me. In cities, the need for city services - trash collection,
police, street lights, the fire department - seems well established. In some
cities, those departments are not stretched as thin as ours, and they can handle
the details our city cannot. I think we differ, you and I, Ray, in our
thoughts about whether or not any further services are needed, after the city does
what it can.
if you want, as an anabaptist, to voluntarily supplement the
public services that the city is providing through our tax
dollars and our votes, go right ahead. but we cannot expect
that to mean that everyone else must therefore mandatorily
give additional taxes and votes to the Chapel of St. Melani,
the School of St. Melani, or even to her bishopric, the
United Cloven Diocese of Evangelical Realtors. :-)
btw, I think it's intriguing that you (and others) deliver
the sermons you do. in one ear we're told how this is such a
wonderful neighborhood (so capable and functional that we're
able to "unanimously" install dock street at the firehouse
as a "total community project). and yet in the other ear
we're told how we're so overcome with so many problems that
we absolutely must have ucd (we're so dysfunctional and
thinly stretched and sleep deprived we can't even get
potholes fixed).
which is it?
seems to me that the 'fears' are dialed up just loud enough
to warrant the need for ucd, to drown out any efforts
neighbors have already made or could make on their own. but
not loud enough scare away new homeowners or beer drinkers,
or to get any of them to actually take responsibily
themselves -- except as anabaptists, of course!
Also, I'm not sure it's always clear that the constant criticism on this list
of joiners and the organizations they join, seems just as heavy handed as the
reverse, the criticism of those who don't join and don't like organizations.
I believe that the organized, strategic, and well-funded
noise that anabaptists make, and replicate as catechism, --
in print and online, 24/7 -- is, by definition, always going
to be heavier and louder and more insistent than any noise
that can possibly be made by an individual stakeholder
sitting in their underwears and stretching metaphors on a
neighborhood listserv on a friday night. :-)
..................
UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN
[aka laserbeam®]
[aka ray]
SERIAL LIAR. CALL FOR RATES.
"It is very clear on this listserve who
these people are. Ray has admitted being
connected to this forger." -- Tony West
"Ray's falsehoods are more sophisticated,
more believable" -- Tony West
----
You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the
list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see
<http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
