By Deborah Schwartz, LCSW
Now Is the Time
With hearts aching in the wake of mayhem in Tucson, we seek to make sense out of chaos, to understand one human being’s choice to wreck the precious lives of many. We seek to identify cause and effect, to point our fingers at that person or that group or that program, to diagnose (perhaps rightly so) Jared Lee Loughner’s schizophrenia; all to separate us from the “guilty parties”, to relieve us of hurt and responsibility so we may resume our lives.
But it’s never that simple. The truth is that an infinite number of “causes”, a disastrous combination of “nature” and “nurture”, most of which we’ll never identify, converged in Mr. Loughner in front of Safeway on January 8, 2011. And the truth is that all of us share responsibility: our society generated a person who would fire 33 bullets at a Congresswoman and her constituents. So now is the time to stand together with humility. Now is the time to know that we are better together than we are alone. Now is the time to acknowledge that our only choice is to honor one another, to seek common ground, and to respect our differences as we labor together toward a more civil society.
The Coronado Human Relations Commission (CHRC) has sought to do just that over the course of the last decade since its inception in the fall of 2000. As the Commission leaps into its second decade, with renewed commitment, enthusiasm, and additional services, the purpose stands:
The Mission of the Coronado Human Relations Commission
is to promote respect, understanding, and the peaceful resolution of conflict
among and between youth and adults in the community of Coronado.
Now Is the Time to Honor One Another
On the evening of April 12, 2011, CHRC will honor seven persons who live or work in Coronado; and who value, model, and promote peaceful communication and the peaceful resolution of conflict consistent with the Mission. The prestigious Peacemaker Awards will be presented for the eighth consecutive year during the ninth week-long, community-wide celebration “Take My Hand, Coronado!”
The public is invited and encouraged to participate “as we labor together toward a more civil society:”
- ?Submit a Peacemaker Award Nomination on behalf of a deserving relative, neighbor, friend, colleague, mentor, hero, or Nomination forms may be obtained at most public offices including schools, the Public Library, and the Coronado Senior Center; and may be printed from the website www.coronadohrc.org.
- ? Honor our “peacemakers” at the evening celebration:
Peacemaker Awards
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
6:30 PM Reception
7:00-8:30 PM Program
The Nautilus Room
City of Coronado Community Center
1845 Strand Way
Coronado, California 92118
- ?Attend a CHRC meeting. The public is encouraged to bring to the attention of the Commissioners human relations questions, concerns, problems, and/or solutions. The Commission meets five times per year; typically on the fourth Tuesday in September, November, January, March, and May; 3:30-5:00 PM. The website may be consulted for confirmation of the schedule: www.coronadohrc.org. Meetings are convened in the Board Room of the Coronado Unified School District; 201 6th Street, Coronado. Contact Deborah Schwartz for further information: [email protected], (619) 929-8968.
