Community — WORD — JARED MACKEY

One of my great disappointments when I began volunteering for Habitat for Humanity was restrictions on the use of power tools. It was illogical to me why we wouldn’t use nail guns and sawzalls to build the homes. A hammer and hand saw were incredibly inefficient tools to complete the project. Over several years of volunteering with Habitat I came to understand and respect why they held the restriction. One of the goals was to build a home. But as important was building collaboration, confidence, and community. Power tools were dangerous and divisive. They separated those who could handle, or at least thought they could handle them, and those who chose not to. And certain power tools increased the risk of injury of not only the user, but everyone, on the site.

Digital communication has become an assumed technology and tool of our time. I will compose and distribute this essay with the assistance of digital mediums. Social media is a particular and peculiar form of digital communication. It offers anyone with a smart phone the opportunity to be a journalist, editor, and publicist, entirely on their own. Social media seems to be the most accessible power tool for any and all types of communication projects. My concern is that there are no restrictions, and no clear guidelines, for its’ use. As I listen to dialogues quickly descend into divisions and dissensions I am asking the question if the goal of the project is being missed. Are the tools helping build conversation, collaboration, confidence, and community? Or, are the tools causing injury? Injury not only to everyone else on the site, but in the long run, to the user as well?

This week my 30 something friends confirmed to me that social media is the metric by which we are being measured. One suggested, if you are learning, reading, and even acting on your convictions, but not posting on social media, then none of it counts. That’s overstating it, but it does seem to be the proverbial tree falling in a forrest that no one hears; and therefore has made no sound.

I am 3 years away from 50, so my convictions may be wholly relegated to a Luddite unwilling, or unable, to keep up. But, from my viewpoint, there are as many 55 year olds as 25 year olds wielding communication power tools with little care. We’ve been given a platform, which to a greater or lesser degree, we’ve all longed for. We have been handed the mic. But, would we hold the mic as securely if everyone who read our words was listening to us over lunch? Digital comments and direct messages do not adequately hold the same space as an interpersonal conversation. I do not believe digital content can adequately accomplish any project of deep change. And, I believe there are injuries occurring because of the power tools being used that impact how, if ever, we will build something together.

I’m not suggesting substantive content cannot be shared through digital means. I have been introduced to dozens of individuals and institutions through digital media to listen to and learn from. Many people I have only met in passing have provided me with inspiration and instruction for life via digital media. My question is not if the tool can prove to be used for good. My question is if we’ve considered how the tools can also cause harm. Are we willing to slow down and hammer out a conversation? Would the slow work of sawing by hand allow us to feel the impact of the cuts we are making? Are we inspiring those who look and listen in to our lives to join us in the long work of building a better future?

Habitat is not a home builder. If so, they would be absurdly inefficient, not only because of the lack of power tools, but because they allowed me to be a regular volunteer on their work sites. But Habitat does not only build homes. They build dignity and community. They do so with the restriction of power tools to make the site safe. I am one of thousands who learned how to swing a hammer because of their patient policies. I also came to adopt a “theology of the hammer” because I was invited to labor alongside others. Many of my preconceived perspectives of poverty shifted slowly over the shared work of building a home together. And yes, I took pictures and posted to social media about the work along the way; but the house that would become someone’s home was the centering work we were concentrated on and committed to.

If our hope is to build a better world, I believe we need to reconsider restrictions on how we use the power tools of digital media. The restrictions will have to be self-imposed, or even better, decided in the context of community. Digital media is a pocket sized power tool. It cuts quickly. It can fastens us to an idea with such little effort. But I do not see it building collaboration, dignity, or community as often as we would hope. My prayer is whatever project we are passionate about, we would use the not only the tools of our time to accomplish it, but patience, discretion, and care to inspire others to build something beautiful with us.

Jared Ray Mackey
June 30, 2020