The arrow may not reach its target in our lifetime,
but with continual skill and intention, it will reach its target.
The “arrow” motif throughout One Action-One Boulder/Niwot’s Arrow symbolizes the use of skillful action. The aim of this project is not just about taking “one action,” and done – it includes reflecting on our history and our current challenges so the action we choose moves us skillfully in a direction that creates more equity for all our children.
One of the challenges of OAOB/Niwot’s Arrow is making certain that our good intentions are actually skillful. Reflecting deeply on our lives, our history, current challenges affecting our community and what we want for our children and Boulder is one component. But dialogue is also essential, as it helps to bring individual views into contact with differing perspectives – a mission that can only be accomplished through deep conversation. Dialogues with people in the community, particularly listening to marginalized groups and community leaders who have been engaged in social justice work, can only help to ensure that our actions, once we take them, stay true to their aim.
Talking and reflecting, while essential components of OAOB/Niwot’s Arrow, are not actions themselves. Likewise, neither are Social Justice Flash Mobs and One Song-One Boulder. It is not enough to participate in these parts of the programming, and to then consider ourselves finished. Rather, consider them musical and movement meditations that help us to hold our intentions and to inspire others toward skillful actions. They move us toward action, but they are not, in themselves, the action needed to truly change our community.
Reflection and dialogue is woven into all the OAOB/Niwot’s Arrow events, but the true focus on reflecting and dialogue will come in the second half of 2012.
Starting in August, for example, Playback Theater West will do an improvisational community storytelling performance called, Talking Past – Talking Present: Tell Your Experience of Inclusion & Exclusion. In this performance, we will have a chance to listen to different experiences of living in Boulder.
From August – November, we will host monthly facilitated community dialogues called Our Table. These dialogues will contain elements of various contemplative practice, including those from Japanese tea ceremonies, that will help us to listen deeply across differences, and to reflect on our broken past and our whole future.
In August, we will offer a downloadable home conversation guide on privilege and inequality, created by OAOB & the Matrix Center from University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. This guide will allow you to deepen the conversation with your friends as you reflect on challenges facing our community and our nation, and on how to create a stronger Boulder.
Join us in 2012 as we listen deeply to each other and to underrepresented voices, both in history and in the present, to discover new directions toward a more inclusive and equitable future for all.
Please Note: The OAOB/Advisory Board is still reflecting on this description and will be meeting to discuss how to make it more skillful. Thank you for your patience and your feedback aimed at helping this project serve our community.