Mortal+/Theme/Plain/Theme

 Given that Philadelphia is the founding home of the Plain, they are particularly empowered here. They are comparatively numerous, have access to a great deal of centralized resources, and even have the support of their former communities to varying degrees. The local news loves to cover their activities, especially their more audacious or eye-catching ones. Civic leaders sometimes seek their endorsements of public works activities, and hardly any socially progressive movement in the city lacks one of the Plain within their ranks.

 While the movement has no leader per se, the Plain here in Philly hold regular meetings at what is called The Roundtable. It is part community forum, part bully pulpit, and part political summit. Plain from across the region visit the Roundtable, share their successes and their failures, discuss potential next steps and share best practices. In it, they jockey for support for their pet causes and seek the resources and support needed to carry them out. The Rountable takes its name from the Sunday afternoon coffee meeting of its three founders. A young Jewish rabbinical student, an equally young Senegalese immigrant, and yet another young Hijabi immigrant from Iran. They are often present for it, and are its nominal chairpersons in the absence of formal leadership roles.

 Perhaps you are one of the many Amish Plain that stayed among the English after their Rumspringa. Perhaps you read the blog and it spoke to you, and so you sought the community out within the city. Maybe you were one of those saved by the sacrifice of a Plain, and now do your best to pay that kindness forward. They count among their number both the devoutly religious and the most cynical of atheists, though all of their number are devoted to a thoroughly humanist cause; the cessation of violence.

 Here in Philly there is no shortage of violence to confront. Street crime, the police, the armed forces; they are all pervasive in the region. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and much of the violence in the region has its roots in the desperation of the communities afflicted with it. So some of the more proactive members of the Plain have taken to attacking the violence at its roots, working with community leaders to provide better resources for working families. Running cost free childcare centers, supported entirely by donations. Operating community gardens from empty lots to address food insecurity. Fundraising to pay off water and electricity bills for families facing foreclosure for unpaid utility bills. Any potential avenue for hopelessness to seep into the soul, they seek to address directly.

 It's a bit like dropping a sponge in the ocean, but it's starting to have an impact. How will you stem the tide of violence?