THE BOND & THE BRIDGE

BY TRACY SCHLAPP

I can’t stop thinking about the terrific interview between Lulu Garcia-Navarro and Harvard professor Robert Putnam on the NY Times podcast, “The Interview.” They talk about the social capital gained through bonding with a group of people with whom you share values, your background. These relationships provide that inner safe circle, the people with whom you derive your sense of cultural belonging and a sense of safety. These are the people who care for you when you are sick. Putnam also describes the importance of bridging social capital by means of establishing ties with people who are unlike you. Here are the relationships that provide an opportunity to step outside of yourself, your beliefs. These relationships feel risky at first based on human fear of difference: What if I say or do something that may offend a person? The difference can challenge our very sense of how we operate in the world, as we encounter different languages, customs, foods … He argues that a healthy democracy (and economy) relies on cultivating both relationships. From this point of view, our connections with people like ourselves and our connection with people unlike ourselves are equally important. This recipe can ward off loneliness for individual while also connecting diverse groups into stronger communities.

In his short essay, Jacob W. Harper writes: “As a man removed from the connections that formed him, whose errant heart screams its war cry with ringing clarity, I say men connect for no other reason than then they must. The heart, the soul searches for others who are alike. Humans connect, in fact our entire reason to be, is to form relationships.” Jacob explores how connecting with others is difficult, painful, awkward, and sometime misconstrued: “My speech may fumble and present the façade of deceit. Oh, to make that clean connection …” Our writing group provides a place for individual to practice their craft together, to bridge social divides within a segregated prison climate. It gives them an opportunity to read their thoughts to one another and have them met with respect and kindness — to have their ideas valued!

Melissa Black’s Spirit Energy Seed and Fernando Brambila Pelayo’s The Love of God is a Sure Anchor of the Soul are poems that connect the writers to their spiritual centers. In the devotional act, they strengthen their resolve, and share it with others. Hope resounds in concrete spaces.

You spirit seeds travel through
the Milky Way in and out,
you channel me without a doubt.

I’ll continue to carry your
seed light for this flight in 
the rest of my journey.

— Melissa Black

Many people who are incarcerated cultivate their spiritual practices to fortify their connections — to one another and to their traditions. Last week, the Lakota Oyate-ki Club ran their annual Spirit Run. During the four-day ceremony, the Native men run on the yard and a ceremonial staff is kept in motion by a series of runners from early morning until day’s end. The Club coordinates the hand-off and supports one another. During this time, they drum, pray, and fast, as they renew their connections to the creator and to their ancestors. Men outside of the Club pay their respects, they take the time to learn about the ceremony, and they may walk in solidarity. In this four-day period, the bonding of people and the bridging of communities is enacted. | TDS

listen to the full interview: Robert Putnam on The Interview