April 6, 2025 - Building & Sustaining Bridges

Archival Recording - Sunday Gathering
April 6, 2025 - Building & Sustaining Bridges
More information available at: https://www.westhill.net

Building & Sustaining Bridges with Mel Burns
So, you want to build community and decrease polarization - but, why should your neighbors make room for you in their busy lives? 
What about your family member who continues to quote misinformation and fake statistics? Why should "weird uncle Al " care about your opinion or worldview? 
Talking to people is hard, and often it feels like it doesn't help (just take a look at the comment section online) - so where do we go from here? Let’s gather and chat about building bridges in today's neighborhoods, and why, just maybe, they should be boulevards instead.

Mel has a background in social work and is currently at the thesis stage of a Masters degree with a focus on Religion, Peace, and Justice. 
Mel has led a wide range of staff both in case management and programming for refugees and newcomers to Canada and in New Zealand in an Indigenous organization providing support to youth beneficiaries and young parents. 
Mel has experience facilitating workshops on a variety of topics related to social work and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. 
Mel believes that all life is created equal and that each human we encounter has the ability to teach us a unique and valuable truth, if only we take the time to pause and pay attention. 
Mel is a proud member of the queer community, a regular tree-hugger, a donut connoisseur, and a lover of continuous learning.

First Reading 
“People are hard to hate close up. Move in. Speak truth to bullshit. Be civil. Hold hands. With strangers. Strong back. Soft front. Wild heart.”
― Brené Brown, Braving the Wilderness

Second Reading
“It is also tempting to vilify a single despot at the sight of injustice when, in fact, it is the actions, or more commonly inactions, of ordinary people that keep the mechanism of caste running, the people who shrug their shoulders at the latest police killing, the people who laugh off the coded put-downs of marginalized people shared at the dinner table and say nothing for fear of alienating an otherwise beloved uncle..."
- Isabel Wilkerson, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

Видео April 6, 2025 - Building & Sustaining Bridges канала West Hill United Church