Extending Grace
When did we start assuming the worst of each other? I spend less time on social media these days, but when I do look, I see accusations flying back and forth. One group is supposedly saying terrible things about another, and the same is claimed in the other direction. But I never actually see the original posts.
Maybe I just haven’t entered the right algorithm to catch them. Or maybe those posts are planted by malicious actors stirring up division. Or maybe they don’t even exist, and we’ve simply learned to expect the worst without needing proof.
What troubles me most is how quickly suspicion hardens into certainty, and certainty into condemnation. It feels as though we’ve created echo chambers where it’s easier to believe rumors about “the other side” than to risk a real conversation. We forget that behind every label is a person, and behind every opinion is a story.
That’s why Across the Bridge—our partnership with Muskegon Community College—feels so important. It brings people together from both sides of the drawbridge, where stereotypes and assumptions often run deep. Yet when we sit down face-to-face, the walls start to crumble. We discover that the differences we’ve been taught to fear often pale beside the hopes and challenges we share. What emerges instead is possibility: the recognition that every person and every community has worth and something to offer.
And this, at its core, is what diversity, equity, and inclusion are really about—not division, but connection. These words have been twisted by some to mean the opposite of their intent, but DEI is simply the practice of extending grace: seeing the full humanity in one another, creating room for every voice, and honoring the contributions each person brings.
Grace doesn’t stop there. Karen Faith’s TED Talk, How to Talk to the Worst Parts of Yourself
is a profound reminder that the compassion we extend outward must also be offered inward. Extending grace to ourselves allows us to meet our own struggles without judgment, which in turn makes us more capable of offering grace to others. It calls to mind Rumi’s timeless poem The Guest House, which invites us to welcome even the difficult parts of our experience as teachers.
This is a good time to remind you that the Wellbeing Collective is available to help you care for your self through sampling a variety of practices. The practitioners are inviting you to meet them at an Open House October 17. This is a time to ask your questions, meet others who are also curious, and enjoy a signature mocktail.
If you’d like to continue exploring how we can move beyond suspicion and stereotypes, please join us at the Momentum Center’s Town Hall on Mental Health and Conflict on Monday, October 27. The registration link is near the end of this newsletter. And if you’re interested in being part of Across the Bridge 2026, let me know—I would love for you to be part of this hopeful, healing work.
Namaste,
Barbara Lee VanHorssen
Experi-Mentor
Barbara@MomentumCenterGH.org
