On December 4th, our speaker was Mary K. Dennison, an ambassador for Braver Angels. Braver Angels is a nonprofit dedicated to bringing Americans together to bridge the partisan divide. Their pledge is to understand the other side's point of view, which for many Americans seems like an impossible task. Mary K told us a key is to get to know people better with direct, non-antagonistic, and non-judging dialog. Braver Angels got its original name from a famous Abe Lincoln quote: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” They later changed from Better Angels to Braver Angels.
Two books are available from Braver Angels authors: 1) “In Search of Braver Angels: Getting Along Together In Troubled Times” by David Blankenhorn and 2) “I Never Thought of It That Way” by Monica Guzman.
For those interested, the Essex Club meets on the 1st Thursday of every other month, with the next meeting in January.
To learn more about or donate to Braver Angels, visit: https://braverangels.org/
To see and hear Mary K's talk at our club, go to: https://youtu.be/M16ArfNhqlM