The City On The Hill
We are accountable for our visions of the future and we should take them seriously
John Winthrop was an early American colonist, a lawyer, and the 2nd governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. His writings and philosophy were key in shaping the culture of many of the early American puritans and as such they have echoed with everything that has come since.
His most famous sermon may be “A Model of Christian Charity” which he delivered to the passengers aboard the Arbella before their arrival in the new world:
…Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck, and to provide for our posterity, is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. For this end, we must be knit together, in this work, as one man. We must entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities. We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality. We must delight in each other; make others’ conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, as members of the same body. So shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. The Lord will be our God, and delight to dwell among us, as His own people, and will command a blessing upon us in all our ways, so that we shall see much more of His wisdom, power, goodness and truth, than formerly we have been acquainted with. We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when He shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, "may the Lord make it like that of New England." For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God, and all professors for God's sake. We shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.
The sermon lay in obscurity for many years before it was revived as symbol in American political discourse starting in the 1960’s with John F. Kennedy. It was put to particularly masterful use by Ronald Reagan, including in his farewell address:
I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it.
But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still.
The city on a hill is a vision of what our societies could look like. It’s a place we could aim to build where people are wealthy, kind, and live in harmony. A place where we can allow the best of humanity flourish.
Illustration of the future are a common part of our societies. Though most are not nearly as beautifully handled. Nearly every company has a vision that they pursue, governments set targets to achieve, and we all collectively just went through our annual goal setting ritual over the last week.
Reminding a group what they should be aiming at and making it concrete is of course incredibly valuable. We should probably put a lot more energy into beautiful well crafted messaging in sermons, speeches, propaganda posters, and mailers. But at the same time, visions of the future are a dime a dozen.
The reason most visions fall flat is because they are empty statements. They are given by people without skin in the game. Whether a vision succeeds or fails its proponent is comfortable to fade into the background. For a vision to be really powerful requires accountability. When you are properly accountable everything is on the line.
Winthrop’s sermon was stirring not because the imagery of the city that could be created is so beautiful but because the consequences of whether or not the pilgrims achieved it felt so real. They not only had the uncertainty of their voyage and the conditions of the place they were moving to to contend with but they had their civic pride. If they succeeded then they might found a new country that could be a light for the whole world. If they failed then there would be no recovering their good name for posterity.
13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:13-14 (NKJV)
In the last fifty years what places have been as a city on a hill?
There are a few possible contenders but two in particular that have fascinated me are Hong Kong and Singapore.
These cities have been wildly economically successful1. Even more impressive they are diverse and open with large amounts of immigration while maintaining some of the strongest, high trust, civil societies in the world.
I believe that Toronto has the potential to be a similar city on a hill. We have a lot to aspire to when compared to today's truly great cities like Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, London or New York. We do not have world class transit, our public services like healthcare have much room for improvement and we are relatively poor.
But we are kind, young2, growing3 and international4. There is a lot of energy here to be put to good work in creating an example of the way cities can be.
Unfortunately, stagnation on other fronts has put these factors are at risk. Among other things, decades of poor housing policy have left us with one of the most undersupplied housing markets globally. The problem has now become bad enough it could even threaten part of Canada's core identity as the pro-immigrant nation.
Solving for these issues is not an academic matter5 it's about enshrining proper motivations. Toronto has an opportunity to be one of the world’s great cities over the next 50 years. If we refuse to take on this responsibility, posterity will not judge us kindly for it. As Wintrhop ended his sermon, in classic Puritan fashion:
But if our hearts shall turn away, so that we will not obey, but shall be seduced, and worship other Gods, our pleasure and profits, and serve them; it is propounded unto us this day, we shall surely perish out of the good land whither we pass over this vast sea to possess it.
Links
Shopify recently cancelled all recurring meetings. If you think there’s some merit to their frustrations but are not sure how you can still collaborate effectively in a meeting light world then check out this masterclass pulled from Amazon’s playbook on how to use the written word to make up the gap:
Mood
I feel a bit dumb just putting GDP per Capita as the chart here because it’s such a blunt instrument. It’s worth knowing that the numbers look the same for basically all key indicators like Life Expectancy or Education Outcomes. They also don’t effectively capture developments intangibles like having the best transit systems in the world.
Toronto was first amalgamated in its current form in 1953 or 1998 depending on who you ask. For comparison New York in its present 5 borough form came together in 1898.
At least we were the fastest growing city in N. America in 2020 before the cities house prices exploded in 2021. Now we are experiencing a decline.
Today 46% of Toronto’s population are immigrants. It’s possible it is the most cosmopolitan city in history.
If you are interested in the academic side of what we should be doing and why this article is a good introduction.