Home > Work > Save Your City: How Toxic Culture Kills Community & What to Do About It
1 " Good governance is the art of putting wise thought into prudent action in a way that advances the well-being of those governed. "
― Diane Kalen-Sukra , Save Your City: How Toxic Culture Kills Community & What to Do About It
2 " Democracy gives us citizens a measure of political power. That power comes with a responsibility to foster a culture that makes it possible to live and work well together for the well-being of all. "
3 " Human connection is based on trust, and it is trust that is continually violated when people do not practice setting aside their narrow self-interests in consideration of the needs and interests of others, such as their coworkers, family, neighbours, and community. "
4 " Incivility is contagious—often spreading by way of righteous indignation until even those without legitimate grievance have come down with symptoms and taken sides. "
5 " The need to revive civic education in our modern democracies is of the utmost importance to our future ability to preserve our democratic institutions and civil society. It is critical to preserving the equality of fundamental rights of all people. It is critical to developing the capacity for effective action to address the many complex social, political, economic, and environmental challenges arrayed before us. It is critical if we are going to successfully navigate the Fourth Industrial Revolution and ensure it truly results in positive disruptions that work in the interests of the people by democratizing social, financial, and political edifices -- rather than simply intensifying the concentration of wealth, power, and influence. "
6 " Good governance in a democracy is impossible without fostering in our communities and the electorate, an appetite for leaders who are committed to respectful conduct. "
7 " Democracy is not something we have by divine right. It is a hard-won privilege granted to us by those who came before us and fought for it. These were people who knew the tyranny and injustice of oppressive masters who would deny ordinary people a voice and basic human rights, such as freedom of expression and association. But we forget that democracy requires an active, informed, and engaged citizenry that seeks the well-being of all, not just their gang, in order to thrive. "
8 " Culture is like a forest. The seeds are your core values. Once they take root as behaviours, they can grow into trees, populating your cultural forest. Bad seeds produce unhealthy forests, infertile, and plagued by infestations. Good seeds produce a healthy forest and ecosystems that support life. One is sustainable, the other is simply not. "
9 " Incivility is the social equivalent of CO2 and leads to a sort of cultural climate change that is very difficult to reverse. Anger, confusion, and a willingness to engage in bullying to get one's way; these are all results of the current hot house climate we find ourselves in. "
10 " Without addressing how we live together and finding a way that respects both nature and our universal humanity, we won't have the collective ability, strength, or shared vision necessary to protect our world or build a better one. "
11 " In a democracy, we are all trusted cup-bearers to each other, commissioned by our common purpose and citizenship to be city builders and community builders. "
12 " Employees are people who live in communities. Let's stop pretending workplaces are separate from community, places where robots go to die. "
13 " A government of the people, a democracy, has room for peaceful civil disobedience—a practice that appeals to the humanity and sense of justice of the opposition (not defined as the 'enemy') and insists that we do all, in fact, belong to the beloved community. "
14 " As much as we like to say "every vote counts", a much richer understanding of what creates and maintains thriving democracies is "every heart counts". "
15 " When visions come to us in the night, they are called dreams. The very movement of history seems to be directed by the conception of these dreams and efforts to realize them. How we conceive of the future, in other words, is of utmost importance to our collective destiny. "
