When Community...Isn't

When folks ask me how I like living in Nashville...

I was so excited to share something positive about my city on my walk today. Look at this beautiful riverwalk! The gates were even all open today, when many of them are often closed because there's a venue here as well, and in preparation for paid events, a lot of this public space is frequently inaccessible. And it is beautiful, isn't it?

And then I made it halfway through...and was told that I needed to go around the riverwalk—literally walk the block around—because Broadway and 1st is being set up for a huge event for lots of folks who likely don't live here, and an entire section of the road is closed even to pedestrians. This is not atypical, and also why I rarely venture out. You never know what's closed when, and what's being set up for tourists, residents living their lives be damned.

I am guessing that, as is typically done for events like this, and as is still being done with low-income folks to make room for newer, more expensive housing, camp folks who live in this area were also recently swept up and removed, while our city government actively and mostly resists any efforts at creating more/any affordable and dignified housing.

I know that folks who've lived here awhile are used to this, and that's what makes me sad. Someone else has taken over your city, even demolished people's homes. (We made more of a ruckus about cherry trees being displaced than fellow human beings--which is to say that white middle class folks here raised their voices at. all.) And so many people are shrugging and complacent because we have more places to go eat and hangout than apparently we did 7 years ago, even though some folks now have no place to live, and most of the food isn't actually that great. (I will give us--the entertainment IS topnotch--it's Nashville, so that was already yours.) So this city sold its soul and self for a very, very low price.

I just...had a very unexpected and abrupt reminder today that I want so badly to love this city as a community. I love the PEOPLE. And this is a city that has decided that its "community" is about stuff, things, and money, and that everything it's doing and creating are for people who aren't even here yet, or are just passing through.

When folks ask me how I like Nashville...

I can't explain how much it hurts my soul, that I'm really trying not to cry right now. I know folks think I'm ridiculous at times, but one of my spiritual gifts is that I know when people are finding themselves, and when people are losing themselves. I see a city allowing itself to die, and hoping that that death translates itself into new life when it's just...death. I really wish the people of Nashville knew that they are worth more than the wealth and entertainment factor we project to others. It's just really, really sad.

And it's why, while I reside here now, I look forward to when God tells me it’s time to go. I can't BE here. It makes me terrified and depressed and angry that folks feel okay living like this together. I will miss the people. I will not miss living in this current state and condition. At all.

When you ask me how I like Nashville...I love the people. I grieve for the community.

For now, in this moment, I'm going to return to my work of supporting with folks who are actively trying to love one another. Because all we can do, and are called to do, is to try with one another. the best that we are able. I'm thankful for the folks who do.