After debating whether to go or not to go, I finally put on my shoes and coat and walked out to Grand River to catch the 21 bus downtown. I was on my way to Detroit Soup. From a quick glimpse on their website, I knew that there would be a bunch of bright faced, twenty-year olds laughing, smiling and “being engaged” with Detroit. I expected to see one or two interesting people, to run into Hannah- my Challenge Detroit colleague, and to leave the event in an hour saying, “ha! That was cool.”

After getting off the 16 bus at West Grand Boulevard and grabbing $20 out of the Bank of America atm for the $5 suggested contribution, I finally walked into a unassuming large auditorium. Dubbed the “Jam Handy,” this auditorium was as cool and rustic as the excited Midtown residents who I assumed would be there.

The show went on.

The vendors, the networking, the business pitches, the Q & A, the ballot box voting, and the consumption of mostly vegan soups and dishes – it all occurred as they “so often do” at these cute feel good events in Midtown (…it was actually New Center, but you know what I mean).

No No, That actually was pretty cool

However, as I left Detroit Soup, my thoughts plunged beneath and beyond my perspective and general prejudice of our new Detroit, a Detroit which had been “mine”, once upon a time.

As I walked from Jam Handy to catch my series of DDOT buses back to Rosedale Park, I began consider the amount of work that went into the planning and design of the event.

“A lot of though and effort went into all of that. And they seemed to make everyone very comfortable,” I thought to myself. As I waited on West Grand Boulevard, I reflected the network of volunteers and good hearted attendees which made that event so fun. At no point had I felt out of place.

The audience and the participating ideas (and their founders) that night were more diverse and representative that any I had encountered in this region of the city. Moreover, all of the ideas being pitched were ones that had ideals of community, progress and justice at their cores.

…Home of the Brave

Our current popular media, including Twitter moments and Facebook Trending, is incredible good at reminding Americans of the problems which face our society. In fact, I believe they are so good at highlighting our problems that they quite likely cause many easily overlook the brave few who, after coming to terms with human suffering and injustice, take small and courageous actions to counteract this moral imbalance.

“Focus on the Helpers” encouraged the late Mr. Rogers during various television interviews. These helpers are the people who put in the work when no one else is looking.

Power, so often, is no end to these helplessly optimistic individuals- results are.

In an era of mindless nationalism, of valid despair and of disillusionment, my attendance of Detroit Soup reminded me of the power of both community and practical leadership. The organizers of Detroit Soup, as the late Jamaican Prime Minister, Michael Manley, once articulated, “look horizontally to overcome vertical dependence.”

They harness the power of the community and individual Detroiters to take collective responsibility for the city’s challenges in a transparent, democratic and communal manner.

Detroit Soup… A Much Needed Recipe

Disconnecting once a month from their schedules and online social networks, Detroit Soup attendees invest real dollars, utilize actual democratic processes, and fund projects and businesses that are locally focused.

This “can do” and “we must” spirit possessed by the attendees and organizers of Detroit Soup cuts through the negativity, pessimism and cynicism which permeates much of America’s current popular collective conscious.

It gives us a solution-oriented optimism which is rooted in both substantive actions and grassroots investment. Detroit Soup not only provides a template for other economically and politically challenged cities, but it inspires individuals like myself to invest into the change I want to see in the world.

And just to think that this change can start with little more than a good bowl of soup- even vegan soup. Ha!