What are the Civil Graces?
Welcome to the Table! In the five years since I have written The Civil Graces Project, we have seen our world slip further apart. We often see the principles of democracy under attack and our communities feel pushed apart. Now more than ever, I invite you to do a quarter turn–look across the aisle or the table and seek to find common ground with those in your world. I have opened a café, Centreville Place, because I believe it is essential to make space for each other and find ways to heal our connections, especially with our community. I still believe we can heal our world one table at a time! Please join us!
The Civil Graces Project is a personal memoir that chronicles my experiences on the campaign trail for the U.S. Congress in 2017-2018. Of the many things I witnessed, the most transformative was seeing the power in our communities. Every day people are working together to make great things happen. However, that is not often the message we see depicted. We hear how we are a nation divided and on the brink of destroying one another. We, the People, are the authors of our story in this country. I wanted to challenge the notion that the U.S. is a country divided and explore how changing our political discourse can bring people together rather than tear us apart. In The Civil Graces Project: The Pursuit for Common Ground, I hope to provide a compassionate approach to healing America’s dialogue that respects the country’s robust diversity of ideas and drills down to the root of our presently chaotic political climate.
We begin by examining our individual lives and the thoughts we think. We explore how making small changes in one’s life can lead to a collective change in the world. The Civil Graces Project invites us to have the courage to discover the things we have in common to heal and create a community – and by extension, a world – that is more inclusive and just.
With the U.S. at a transformative juncture in human history, The Civil Graces Project highlights how the old system is no longer serving Americans and emphasizes the importance of redefining the common ground so that the nation can rearticulate what is essential and develop a partnership model of society. We have seen in so many ways how our people are hurting. When a nation is divided, it is much easier to overcome, but a united people are much harder to break, even if their ideas are diverse. If we are constantly told we are at odds, we begin to lose hope in one another. That is the real tragedy. Ultimately, The Civil Graces Project is an exploration of the questions that can shift from the concept of “a country divided” to that of a country with many gifts and opportunities to redesign the future together.
I designed the logo for Civil Graces to be two fingerprints that combine and form a heart. I believe that while we each have our unique identity, we can find space where we unite. By taking care of the space in between, we heal our communities, our nation, and our world. It also signifies that when we are on opposite sides of a debate, we have to have courage, which originally meant to “come with one’s heart” to find the third way…the middle path. The Civil Graces are those unifying, timeless beliefs that will guide us through the journey as we create that “more perfect union.”
To purchase the Civil Graces Project, please message us at: civilgraces@gmail.com or visit these locations: Centreville Place: Cafe + Market or Barnes + Noble.
©2020 Elizabeth Moro. Please do not reproduced without permission.
The CG Pink thumbprint logo is the copyright of Elizabeth Moro.
Elizabeth grew up in Michigan along the shores of the Great Lakes. As one of twelve children, she learned the importance of working together with people and having 8 brothers, she also knew how important it was to get to the table! Elizabeth is a graduate of Western Michigan University in Political Science, Women’s Studies, and Public Policy. She interned with the Michigan House of Representatives, worked on numerous campaigns on both sides of the aisle and created an organization encouraging women to run for public office. In her early career after college, she was a research assistant with the Fetzer Institute with the assignment to be the “spiritual Thomas Jefferson” and explore the meaning of freedom of spirit. This work had a profound impact on her understanding of working in dialogue and creating wholeness in community work. As a former candidate for U.S. Congress, she saw firsthand the challenges that have resulted from our perceived polarized system and knows that we can accomplish so much more when we find our common ground and connection. For several years, Elizabeth has served her community as a real estate broker, led a sales office, and helped many people achieve the dream of homeownership. She sits on local boards and is an active member of her community.
