Let us protect porches and rocking chairs

For the past 25 years, one of our programs, the Road Scholars Speakers Bureau has been creating a proverbial “front porch” for people to come together to explore history, art, culture, and ideas. The 250 Speakers involved in the program during its lifetime have crisscrossed our state, driving over 20,000 miles this year alone to deliver over 100 presentations in towns and communities that might otherwise lack access to cultural programming. But these numbers only tell part of the story. It is impossible to calculate the journeys of thought Speakers have taken people on in the hundreds of cities and towns they’ve visited. As one audience member shared: 

“Seeing with eyes other than my own and gaining new insights into familiar topics and sights, whether familiar to me from past history, common experiences, or current life — was my takeaway.”

When we look around our society right now, it’s worth wondering if banning student gatherings on college campuses, or silencing writers, or ceasing film screenings at festivals are the kinds of actions firemen in Bradbury’s world might support. Because, if they are, these kinds of actions may also contribute to a world in which front porches, rocking chairs, and our ability to gather in conversation, also become elusive.

In Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, the system the firefighters protect “didn’t come from the government down,” it came from us. At Illinois Humanities one of the core values of our work is to make and protect space for the exchange of challenging ideas, meaningful dialogue, and personal reflection. And it is work. This value is put to its most severe test when we encounter speech and ideas that offend our individual or collective morality, identity, or way of life. But, at the least, I believe we must make space for these hazards if we also want the opportunity to encounter ideas which we might not otherwise encounter. We can choose not to engage. That is not the same as choosing to silence our ability to engage with one another.